BURLINGTON — A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to over four years in prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms, which he stole from a Strafford residence nearly three years ago.
Kyle Pickett, a resident of Windsor County, according to a Vermont United State’s Attorney’s Office news release from this past May, is currently serving concurrent state and federal sentences in federal prison in Colorado.
Leading up to his arrest in November 2023, Pickett led police on a pursuit that spanned multiple days across Windsor and Orange counties, involving break-ins, thefts and a high-speed chase and eventually ending with a standoff in Bethel.
Taking a plea deal in Windsor Superior Court this spring, Pickett entered guilty pleas to three felony counts of grand larceny, unlawful mischief and unlawful trespass.
With the resolution of cases this past April in Windsor and Orange counties, along with a separate case in Washington County, Pickett was sentenced to serve a total of four to five years in prison, court records show.
A voicemail left for Pickett’s attorney in the state cases, Christopher Montgomery, was not immediately returned.
In connection with the November 2023 incident, Pickett initially pleaded not guilty to one count of felon in possession of a firearm in January 2025 in federal court.
Later that fall, he signed a plea agreement admitting guilt to the federal charge, which carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
In May, Chief United States District Judge Christina Reiss sentenced Pickett to 53 months in prison, running concurrent with the state sentences totaling four to five years, followed by three years of supervised release.
Efforts to reach his attorney in the federal case, Charles Curlett, were not immediately successful.
On Nov. 24, 2023, Pickett, who had previous felony convictions including eluding an officer and negligent operation in 2017, rammed a stolen Subaru Outback into the cruiser of Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer in an attempt to evade a traffic stop in Bethel, according to the affidavit in support of the federal charge.
The next day, Palmer located Pickett operating a stolen Ford Ranger pickup truck in Randolph. When Palmer again attempted to pull him over, Pickett sped away through a residential neighborhood.
“Sheriff Palmer pursued Pickett but ultimately stopped his pursuit given his safety concerns about Pickett driving at a high rate of speed through an area busy with pedestrian and vehicular traffic,” the affidavit states.
In Bethel later that day, Palmer found the Ford Ranger that Pickett had been driving, still running with the key in the ignition, but without anyone inside it.
“An individual who drove by stated that the driver of the Ford Ranger had run off into the woods (nearby),” the affidavit states.
Following an unsuccessful search of the area, Palmer returned to the truck to turn off the ignition and remove the key when he “observed in plain view a pump action .22 caliber rifle in the back seat.”
The vehicle, Palmer determined, was registered to an individual at an address in Strafford.
Responding to the residence that day, Palmer observed “items strewn across the driveway,” damage to the garage door and the stolen Subaru Outback from the prior day’s encounter parked in the garage.
“Palmer and other officers,” entered the residence, which “appeared to have been ransacked, as drawers and doors were open all over the house,” according to the affidavit.
Identifying and contacting the Strafford resident who owned the Ford Ranger, officers learned that the individual also owned two firearms, a .410-caliber shotgun and another which matched the description of the .22-caliber rifle Palmer previously discovered in the truck.
The owner of the truck and the guns confirmed to police that they didn’t know Pickett and he didn’t have their consent to be in their residence or use their truck.
After obtaining a search warrant to search the truck, the affidavit states that Palmer recovered the .22-caliber rifle and identified it as a Winchester Model 62 .22-caliber rifle, which was “cocked and loaded with a live round in the chamber and 15 rounds of .22 LR ammunition in the magazine tube.”
Police also recovered a Winchester model 42 410 pump action shotgun, which was “loaded with 5 Remington 410 #6 shotgun shells in the magazine tube.”
On Nov. 26, 2023, a Bethel resident reported to police that they had observed security camera footage of an individual breaking into his home, located approximately 500 feet from where Pickett had abandoned the Ford Ranger.
Reviewing the security footage, police determined the individual who appeared to break into the Bethel residence was Pickett.
“There was no evidence that Pickett had left the premises after entering,” the affidavit states.
Tactical Services Unit and Crisis Negotiations Unit of Vermont State Police subsequently responded to the Bethel residence, sending a K-9 into the house, where Pickett did not comply with the troopers’ commands.
After troopers deployed flashbangs and tear gas into the house, Pickett surrendered and was taken into custody.
In custody at Vermont State Police Barracks in Royalton, “among other items, Pickett admitted to burglarizing the (Strafford) residence, stealing the two firearms and stealing the Ford Ranger,” the affidavit states. “Pickett further admitted to being a prohibited person and knowing that he was not supposed to possess firearms.”
