IAPE Evidence Blog

The Burling­ton Free Press (Ver­mont), SECTION: VERMONT; Pg. A05
BYLINE: By, Sam Hem­ing­way, Free Press Staff Writer

Ver­gennes, VT

MIDDLEBURY — For­mer Police Chief Michael G. Lowe, fac­ing 18 months to four years in jail on a series of drug-related charges stem­ming from a June car acci­dent, is expected to ask a judge today to give him a sen­tence that does not include time in jail. 

“I intend to make the point that this is not the kind of offense that requires incar­cer­a­tion,” Richard Golds­bor­ough, Lowe’s attor­ney, said in advance of the sen­tenc­ing hearing.

Lowe pleaded guilty in Jan­u­ary to dri­ving under the influ­ence of drugs, fraud­u­lently obtain­ing pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion and neglect of duty fol­low­ing a June 8 acci­dent dur­ing which a cruiser he was dri­ving struck a parked car in Vergennes.

Lowe was off duty at the time. A Ver­mont State Police inves­ti­ga­tion later found that he become so depen­dent on pre­scrip­tion painkillers that he had pres­sured fel­low offi­cers to obtain the med­ica­tions for him.

In addi­tion to the DUI charge, Lowe was arraigned on five crim­i­nal counts in August and resigned his post in Sep­tem­ber. Three charges, includ­ing one for embez­zle­ment, were dropped when Lowe pleaded guilty to the remain­ing three charges as part of a plea deal worked out in January.

Accord­ing to a police affi­davit, Lowe had an arrange­ment with one of his offi­cers whereby the offi­cer allowed Lowe access to his ongo­ing pre­scrip­tion for Adder­all, an amphetamine-based drug, and even­tu­ally allowed the chief to pick up the pre­scrip­tions him­self at a local pharmacy.

In another instance, Lowe took a hand­gun from the department’s evi­dence locker and traded it to a Ver­gennes offi­cer in exchange for $300 in vit­a­min sup­ple­ments, the affi­davit said.

Lowe entered a Florida treat­ment facil­ity for his drug prob­lem. Golds­bor­ough, who in Jan­u­ary said Lowe would have “a lot to say” at his sen­tenc­ing, declined last week to say who will tes­tify today in favor of Lowe’s bid to avoid a prison sentence.

On file at Ver­mont Dis­trict Court in Mid­dle­bury are let­ters from eight peo­ple ask­ing Judge Cort­land Cor­sones not to send Lowe to jail or oth­er­wise advo­cat­ing for Lowe on his behalf. The let­ters include ones from Lowe’s estranged wife and a treat­ing psychiatrist.

“Chief Lowe was and still is very well respected in Ver­gennes,” wrote Mathew J. Birong, a Ver­gennes busi­ness­man. “His loy­alty as chief of police was admirable. He is repen­tant for his actions this expe­ri­ence has truly hum­bled him. … Please be kind in your ruling.”

“Mike has got the help and changed his life,” wrote Tammy Del­phia of Ver­gennes. “Why can’t you as judge change things, make him the teacher to oth­ers that will not get the help? 

With his knowl­edge and train­ing we should have him teach­ing others.”

Lowe’s sen­tenc­ing hear­ing is sched­uled to get under way at 10 a.m.

Con­tact Sam Hem­ing­way at 660‑1850 or e-mail at shemingway@burlingtonfreepress.com 

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

Brat­tle­boro Reformer (Ver­mont)
BYLINE: By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff

Wind­ham County, VT

BRATTLEBORO — If you’ve been grow­ing a patch of mar­i­juana in the back­woods of Athens, the Wind­ham County Sheriff’s Depart­ment has your crop in the evi­dence room. 

But if you plan on claim­ing it, you bet­ter do it before next week. That’s when the depart­ment plans to destroy the con­fis­cated weed. In case you don’t know who to call to reclaim your pot, Sgt. George Badgely left his busi­ness card at the spot where he pulled the plants out of the ground.

The sheriff’s depart­ment was noti­fied by hik­ers on July 15 that they had dis­cov­ered the mar­i­juana patch while out walk­ing in the woods.

Who­ever was grow­ing the mar­i­juana put a lot of effort into their labor, Badgely said.

“They couldn’t four-wheel to the actual plot,” he said.

Only a few plants were found, some of them more than six feet tall, he said, but it appeared the cul­ti­va­tors had spent some time find­ing the spot and get­ting it ready for their crop.

“They cut trees on a side hill,” located near a tum­bling brook, said Badgely.

He also said it looked like they had cleared another nearby plot and were get­ting ready to put more plants into the ground.

The area where the plants were found is very steep, he said, and the pot farm­ers had found one of the only flat spots in the area for their crop. They had even gir­dled a few trees in the area, as if they were get­ting ready to grow more plants in com­ing years.

For this small an amount of mar­i­juana, said Badgely, the grow­ers would have prob­a­bly only been cited for a mis­de­meanor. But because it was such a small plot, he doesn’t expect the sheriff’s depart­ment to spend too much time investigating.

Badgely, who has been a deputy since Sep­tem­ber 2008, retired from the Ver­mont State Police seven years ago. He was sta­tioned at the Rock­ing­ham bar­racks for 13 years. Fol­low­ing retire­ment, he worked for the Chester and Dover Police Depart­ment before he was hired to work with the sheriff’s department.

Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com, or 802 – 254-2311, ext. 273.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org