[A] fourth person is now facing a federal charge in connection with the probe into the homicide of a Vermont man last fall — though no one yet has been charged with the slaying.
John Welch, 33, pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Burlington to a federal charge of being an unlawful user of a controlled substance knowingly in possession of a firearm. He was ordered detained pending a hearing Thursday to consider his release.
Prosecutors are seeking to hold Welch behind bars awaiting trial on the charge, writing in a filing in the case about the serious nature of the offense and its connection with the shooting death of 37-year-old Michael Pimental of Waterford.
Pimental’s body was found Oct. 14 off the side of a rural dirt road in Concord, about 15 miles from his home in Waterford. According to police and state records, Pimental was shot multiple times in the head and torso.
The indictment against Welch was returned by a federal grand jury in Vermont last week and sealed until his arrest.
“This case involves (Welch’s) possession of the firearm used in the killing of Michael Pimental,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Fuller, who is prosecuting the case, wrote in a filing seeking to have Welch detained pending a trial.
“The government has recovered that firearm and has evidence which links (Welch) to the firearm and implicates him in the homicide,” the filing added. “The circumstances surrounding this offense cannot be more serious.”
In fact, last week, federal prosecutors said they are considering charges as part of their investigation into Pimental’s death that carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The probe into Pimental’s homicide has been ongoing since mid-October.
Krystal Whitcomb, Pimental’s girlfriend, and her father, Shawn Whitcomb, were arrested at different locations Oct. 14, the day Pimental’s body was discovered by police. The father and daughter are both facing federal firearms and drug charges.
A third person, Michael Anthony Hayes Sr., also known as “Mo,” has also been charged in the case, accused of conspiring to unlawfully possess ammunition.
All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, and have been ordered detained pending trial.
Court records released this week in Welch’s case do not indicate his relationship to any of the other defendants charged as part of the investigation so far.
The documents do state that Welch has a “significant substance abuse problem” and a syringe was found on him at the time of his arrest.
According to the indictment, Welch possessed a Taurus 9mm handgun while “addicted to a controlled substance” on Oct. 13, 2018.
Oct. 13, 2018, is the same day that Vermont State Police were notified of Pimental’s disappearance and a day before his body was found.
According to court records, both Whitcombs and Pimental were being investigated by the Vermont Drug Task Force. That probe, court records stated, involved large quantities of heroin and fentanyl that started the summer before Pimental’s slaying.
At a hearing in the Whitcombs’ drug case last year, Fuller said that Krystal Whitcomb had sought her father’s help after she told him that Pimental had physically abused her.
According to the prosecutor, Shawn Whitcomb told investigators, “I did what I did to protect Krystal.”
Krystal Whitcomb, who Fuller said at times provided conflicting statements, did say at one point that in addition to her father another man was involved in the shooting.
That man has not been identified.
U.S. Attorney for Vermont Christina Nolan and Assistant U.S. Attorney Fuller could not be reached Tuesday for comment. Also, Robert Behrens, a Burlington attorney representing Welch, did not return a message Tuesday seeking comment.
