[F]our precious metal dealers are facing charges — including one felony count — for failing to document metals and coins they bought and sold, the result of a police investigation into their suspected role in the illicit drug trade.
The owners of three pawn shops, which are suspected of buying stolen goods from known drug dealers and addicts, have pleaded not guilty in court over the past two weeks. They are expected to return to court next month as their cases move ahead.
Stephen Edwards of Vermont Coin and Jewelry in South Burlington, John Kirby of Green Mountain Coin and Estate Jewelry in Waterbury, James Barrows of Country Thrift Store and More in Barre, and his son, Jimmy Barrows, all came under scrutiny during a year-long investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies.
Each metal dealer has been charged with Title 9 violations, which carry a penalty of six months imprisonment, a fine or both. Both the Barrows are also facing multiple misdemeanor counts for failed record-keeping and possession of stolen property.
The younger Barrows was charged a felony count of possession of stolen property, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. WCAX and other news outlets reported on the charges earlier this month.
Investigations began after $50,000 worth of precious metals were taken from the home of a renowned sculptor’s daughter in Northfield on June 6, 2017.
Leanne Triano, the daughter of sculptor Frank Gaylord, and her husband John, kept about a 10th of their investments in metal, John said. Silver bars, coins and jewelry, including wedding rings belonging to their ancestors, were stolen from an antique trunk in their basement, John said. Emergency cash they kept in their living room was also gone.
“Some of the stuff you can’t get back,” John said.
Gaylord was a World War II Army paratrooper who sculpted soldiers for the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Gaylord famously won about $685,000 in a federal court case in 2013 after the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp of Gaylord’s work and failed to pay him for it. He died in March at age 93.
John said burglars cut through a screen and entered the same room Gaylord died in. “It’s sad,” said John. “We live on a dirt road — we thought we were safe.”
Police said Ashley Neddo, 30, Kristina Trottier, 33, and Trottier’s boyfriend Curtis Randall, 27, stole items from the Trianos’ home and sold it to Jimmy Barrows of the Country Thrift Store and More in Barre.
Randall and Trottier told police Jimmy Barrows gave them $3,000 cash in exchange for the $50,000 worth of stolen metal. They said the transaction took place at Barrows’ home.
Trottier called the $3,000 cash a “jackpot” in a text message to Neddo the date of the robbery and “made mention of being set for two to three weeks with what they found,” State Police Trooper Amber Pouliot wrote in her affidavit summarizing the case.
It’s unclear where the items went from there. Neddo and Randall pleaded not guilty to the theft earlier this month.
Neddo, Trottier and Randall told police the money they got from the silver lasted only one week. They then went to burglarize more residences in the area, according to affidavits.
Vermont law requires precious metal dealers to record the name, address and phone number of the people they purchase metal from. The law also requires owners to hold onto the items for 10 days before selling it and to take a photograph and provide descriptions of the items they purchase.
Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault said drug dealers and addicts are known to sell stolen items to pawn shops for quick cash. The required documentation allows police to recover stolen items.
“Operations like this are one of the methods we can use,” Thibault said of efforts to stop transactions that fuel the local drug trade.
Police said one of the metal dealers facing charges — Edwards of Vermont Coin and Jewelry — was known to purchase items from well-known heroin dealers, including James Meyers, who burglarized more than a dozen properties from Stowe to Chittenden County, and Yolanda Slothower, who was accused of stealing $41,000 worth of items from a Barre home.
Edwards was also known to purchase precious metals from other pawn shops and to sell it to refineries, police said.
Edwards declined to comment when contacted by telephone at his store.
Northfield Police Officer Christopher Hoar, who led part of the investigation, said he either calls or emails pawn shops in the area whenever there’s a burglary.
“Sometimes we get lucky, sometimes we don’t get anything,” he said.
Hoar said he visited Country Store and More weeks after the burglary in search of the stolen metal. He said the records kept at the store were inadequate.
James Barrows, who opened the Country Store two years ago, said police had never complained about his records in the past.
“It’s just harassment,” he said when reached at his store earlier this month.
Barrows said he purchases items from anybody, including people he believes could be drug dealers.
“I can’t discriminate, regardless of what my opinion is,” he said.
The father and son were ordered to stop selling and dealing precious metal as they await trial. They were also ordered not to make contact with Trottier, Randall or Neddo.
Kirby, the owner of Green Mountain Estate Jewelry in Waterbury, was also ordered not to sell or buy precious metal after police said he had been operating without a license for five years.
The Trianos are waiting and watching as the court process plays out.
“Evil is out there and everybody takes a beating every once in a while,” John Triano said. “It’s how you recover from that beating.”
