Chelsea
Sonya Lowe, 26, allegedly let Jeremiah Sadler, 25, and Kyle Larrabee, 23, into the facility on Route 113 in Chelsea after normal business hours in October and November and provided Sadler with keys to the evidence room and drug take-back drop box, according to a Vermont State Police affidavit filed in Orange Superior Court in Chelsea.
Sadler then took items that were in evidence, as well as pill bottles that had been disposed of as part of a program aimed at decreasing the amount of unused prescriptions in people’s homes, the affidavit said. Lowe is also accused of letting a fourth person, 29-year-old Monique Warner, into secured parts of the facility.
Lowe, a resident of Barre, Vt., was released from court on conditions that she not have contact with Sadler and Larrabee and that she not set foot on the premises of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. She faces two counts of burglary and one count of grand larceny.
Because of a conflict of interest, Orange County Judge Timothy Tomasi granted a motion to change the venue of Lowe’s case to Windsor County.
Meanwhile, Sadler and Larrabee have been cited into court in connection with the incidents at the sheriff’s department but have yet to be arraigned. Both currently are incarcerated on other charges.
Vermont State Police Sgt. Eric Albright, who wrote the affidavit, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that he doesn’t think any pending criminal cases will be impacted because of the items that were taken out of evidence.
The items Sadler allegedly took are mostly lost or found property, including a wallet and a cellphone, Albright said.
“It doesn’t seem like, as far as we can tell, this is going to affect any kind of criminal prosecutions or criminal cases,” Albright said.
Orange County Sheriff Bill Bohnyak, who earlier had referred to Lowe as a “trusted” dispatcher who had worked for his department for three years, referred a reporter to Vermont State Police on Wednesday.
“A complete press release will occur once the investigation concludes,” Bohnyak said via email.
Lowe doesn’t yet have an attorney, according to court records. Attempts to reach her on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
In December, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department asked Vermont State Police to investigate after they found video footage that allegedly linked Lowe to the crimes, Albright wrote in the affidavit.
Surveillance footage allegedly shows Lowe opening an interior door to let the men into a secure area of the department.
On at least two occasions, the footage shows Sadler holding a set of keys and entering the temporary evidence room and removing items. Among the items he is accused of taking from the facility is a body armor vest estimated at $1,000, according to the affidavit.
He also is seen exiting the secure portion of the facility and entering the lobby with a set of keys, where he unlocks the drug drop box and removes pill bottles that “clearly contain pills,” the affidavit said.
On at least one occasion, Lowe is accused of disabling a surveillance camera. She also is accused of taking pills from inside secure areas and putting them into the drug drop box, according to the affidavit.
Lowe was arrested the day after Vermont State Police launched the investigation on Dec. 7. At the time she was taken into custody, she was interviewing for a dispatcher job at the Williston, Vt., police barracks.
Sadler and Larrabee had dropped her off at the barracks.
Suspecting the men were involved in the sheriff’s department incidents, and knowing Sadler had an unrelated warrant out for his arrest, police searched the town and located them at a gas station, the affidavit said.
They fled the scene and led police on a chase that ended when Sadler, the driver, hit two Agency of Transportation plow trucks that had set up a roadblock to stop them, according to state police.
Police said they found the police vest in the trunk of the vehicle, as well as other items that allegedly were stolen during residential burglaries earlier that day.
In the Wednesday interview, Albright said Lowe wasn’t very “forthcoming” about her involvement in allegedly letting Sadler, Larrabee and Warner into secured areas of the facility. Warner hasn’t been charged with a crime.
Lowe is slated to appear in Windsor Superior Court on March 8 for a status conference.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.