When asked at a Windsor County Sheriff Forum in June about Brady-Giglio letters, which are issued by prosecutors to document incidents of untruthfulness by law enforcement officers in Vermont, Democratic candidate Joshua Lake said, “I 100% believe we should not have law enforcement working the streets with Brady or Giglio letters.”
This week, Lake, a patrolman with the Bellows Falls Police Department, became the subject of one. As a result, Bellows Falls Police Chief David Bemis placed Lake on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. The move comes just days before the Aug. 11 primary.
On Monday, the offices of the Windham County State’s Attorney and the Attorney General co-signed a letter to area defense counsel stating that Lake had exaggerated an alleged crime he witnessed off-duty.
Last December, Vermont State Police launched an investigation into Lake’s wife, following statements Lake made to an officer with the Walpole, N.H., police department regarding a crime he said he witnessed off-duty, according to the letter.
“When asked by Vermont State Investigators about the statement, Officer Lake stated he exaggerated what he told the New Hampshire Police Officer,” the letter states.
The Vermont State Police investigation stemmed from allegations that Lake, 30, made against his then-19-year-old wife, Michayla Eisner-Lake, who at the time was a deputy-in-training at the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department. Lake is now vying to fill the sheriff’s seat in this year’s election.
In a phone conversation on Dec. 14, 2025, with Walpole Police Corporal Joshua Healy, Lake asked that Healy “keep a lookout for Michayla” after the two had been arguing, according to a December police report obtained by the Valley News.
“At one point, Lake stated that I should not repeat what he was about to tell me and advised that Michayla pulled a gun on him while they were in their vehicle a few days prior,” Healy wrote in his report.
Lake further stated that their child was also in the car at the time, “and that Michayla made a comment indicating that she did not care if they both were to die,” according to Healy.
“Lake did not specify where this had happened, but I am familiar with Lake and Michayla being residents of Rockingham, Vermont,” Healy said.
On the campaign trail, Lake has said he is a resident of Chester in Windsor County, where he is running for sheriff. Rockingham is in Windham County.
A few months prior to that alleged incident involving a firearm, “Lake briefly referenced an incident … in which Michayla had hurt their child, but did not provide specific details,” Healy said.
Healy subsequently made a report to the Vermont Department of Children and Families and passed Lake’s statements up the chain of command to Walpole Police Lieutenant Roger Landry. The two Walpole officers went on to communicate the situation to Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, who hired Eisner-Lake as a probationary deputy last year, and the Bellows Falls Police Department, where Lake has been an officer for around two years.
Palmer, a Democrat elected in 2022, did not file to run by this year’s deadline amid pending criminal charges of sexual misconduct. He began the department’s investigation in December 2025 and finalized his report this July.
After receiving the Walpole reports, Palmer conferred with Windham County State’s Attorney Steven Brown, who requested that Vermont State Police conduct a criminal investigation, according to records obtained by the Valley News of the Windsor Sheriff’s Department’s internal affairs investigation into Eisner-Lake’s conduct.
Pending the completion of the Windsor Sheriff’s Department’s investigation, Palmer placed Eisner-Lake on administrative leave. She resigned a couple of months into the investigation before it was completed.
In June, she “contacted Sheriff Palmer by telephone and stated that she did not wish to participate in an internal affairs interview,” Palmer wrote in his report, adding that she denied the allegations made against her.
That same month, the Attorney General’s Office issued a letter to Vermont State Police, which conducted the criminal investigation, stating “from our review of the case, we do not believe we would be able to meet the legal standard that is required by law” to prosecute Eisner-Lake.
According to the findings of Palmer’s report, finalized in July, Lake’s “allegations can be neither proven nor disproven.”
“No independent witnesses to either alleged incident have been identified,” Palmer wrote, concluding that the allegations were not substantiated. “No firearm was seized or examined. No physical evidence, medical documentation, photographs, recordings or contemporaneous reports corroborating either allegation were located or provided. … (Lake) provided no date, location or specific circumstances for the alleged firearm incident, and no details whatsoever regarding the alleged injury to the child.”
Palmer added that Eisner-Lake “denied the allegations and declined a voluntary interview.”
While finding the allegations to be unsubstantiated, Palmer raised “serious concerns” regarding “the role, motives, timing, truthfulness and conduct of the reporting party (Lake).”
Palmer further noted that Lake is “a certified law enforcement officer who, by his own account, witnessed his wife point a firearm at himself and his infant child, yet made no report to any Vermont law enforcement agency, to his own department, or to child protective services at any time in the roughly one week that followed.”
In finally disclosing the allegations, Palmer said, “he did so informally, to a personal acquaintance at an out-of-state law agency, in the midst of a marital dispute, and expressly asked that the officer not repeat what he was told.”
Palmer also questioned the lack of details regarding the alleged injury to the child and Lake’s failure to report it months earlier when he said it happened.
According to Palmer, Lake claimed that he did not say what Walpole Police Corporal Joshua Healy reported, while Healy was adamant that there was no misunderstanding.
“It is also my understanding that (Lake) recanted his statement during an interview with Vermont State Police,” Palmer wrote.
In heavily redacted investigative reports by Vermont State Police obtained by the Valley News, Detective Sergeant Erin Hodges stated, “it is unclear if a crime had been committed by (name redacted) due to a lack of cooperation throughout the interview.”
“During my interview with (name redacted) it was obvious he withheld information that could have potentially clarified any alleged misconstrued information reported by Cpl. (name redacted) following their phone call on December 14, 2025,” Hodges went on to report.
Following the Attorney General’s Office decision against prosecuting the case, Hodges stated that “(Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Nelson) believes that Windham County State’s Attorney, Steven Brown, should be the one to review the investigative files for a possible Brady/Giglio letter against (name redacted).”
Named after two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases addressing prosecutors’ responsibility in disclosing information to the defense, Brady-Giglio letters document credibility issues with law enforcement officers in Vermont.
On Monday, Windham County State’s Attorney Steven Brown co-signed a letter with Domenica Padula, chief of the Vermont Attorney General’s Criminal Division, stating Lake exaggerated an alleged crime.
“We will evaluate cases that he has involvement in on a case-by-case basis,” Brown stated in a phone interview on Thursday. “So if there’s a case where the only evidence is his testimony, that could impact whether we go forward with the case.”
Phone and email efforts to reach Joshua Lake and Michayla Eisner-Lake were not successful by deadline on Thursday.
On his campaign Facebook page on Tuesday, Lake posted a response to the letter, claiming he and his wife were being targeted in an act of political retribution by Sheriff Palmer.
Brown told the Valley News that his decision to issue the letter was based solely on his review of the Vermont State Police investigation and not the internal affairs investigation conducted by Palmer.
“We will certainly re-evaluate the situation as it continues to develop,” Brown said. “The Vermont Criminal Justice Council may be taking action. The Village of Bellows Falls could also take action.”
Bellows Falls Police Chief David Bemis provided the Valley News with a statement on Thursday, reading: “The police department will investigate matters raised in the letter, evaluate their potential effect on Officer Lake’s duties and responsibilities, and determine what further action, if any, may be appropriate.
While the investigation is ongoing, Bemis said, Lake has been placed on paid administrative leave.
“The VCJC has no comment,” Lindsay Thivierge, director of administration at VCJC, which oversees law enforcement licensing in Vermont, stated in an email on Thursday.
BJ Dunn, chair of the Windsor County Democratic Committee, released a statement on Wednesday in the wake of Lake’s letter.
“As of today, it appears that Joshua Lake has decided to remain a candidate in the race,” Dunn wrote.
While the Windsor County Democratic Committee does not endorse candidates prior to Tuesday’s primary election, Dunn wrote in the statement, the committee is encouraging voters to “carefully consider all the facts, including the facts shared above, read continuing news coverage on this unfolding story, and learn more about the two other Democratic candidates who are running for Windsor County Sheriff – Chris Norton of Springfield, Vermont, and Claude Weyant of Windsor, Vermont.”
