A Philadelphia man has been arrested on federal charges in Vermont linked to a homicide earlier this month in Cambridge.
Taylor Ruffin Herrington, also known as “Tee,” 34, was arrested Thursday in Philadelphia by the FBI on a warrant issued in Vermont, according to a statement Thursday afternoon from the U.S. attorney’s office in Vermont.
Herrington is not facing charges for killing 39-year-old Michael Haines at his home in Cambridge early on the morning on March 3.
Instead, Herrington has been indicted on charges of carrying and using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime and conspiracy to distribute heroin. The indictment was returned by a grand jury in Burlington on March 12, but was sealed until Herrington’s arrest Thursday.
Herrington, according to the statement, made an initial appearance in a federal courtroom in Pennsylvania and has been detained pending his transfer to Vermont.
Federal prosecutors declined comment Thursday on whether Herrington was a suspect in the killing.
Vermont State Police Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the state police criminal division, did say late Thursday afternoon that Herrington is a suspect in the slaying. About whether charges would be filed against Herrington directly in the killing, Trudeau said that was currently being worked out between federal and state prosecutors.
Steven Barth, a federal public defender representing Herrington, could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment.
According to court documents, at about 2:50 a.m. on March 3, Haines and Amy Pudvah contacted the Vermont State Police, reporting that a person known by the nickname “Tee” was trying to get into their Cambridge residence.
They also reported that the man, who has since been identified by authorities as Herrington, was with another person, named “Sam Simms,” in Simms’ truck, according to court filings.
The callers reported that Herrington left in the truck but returned to the residence a short time later, with Herrington demanding that Haines give him Herrington’s duffle back, court records stated. Haines then threw that bag over a back deck, and moments later, according to filings, while Haines was on the phone with a trooper, he told the trooper he had been shot.
“Pudvah was in the residence with Haines and, after Haines was shot, she ran upstairs to her two juvenile children who were also in the residence,” according to the statement issued Thursday by federal prosecutors.
Authorities stated their investigation revealed that Pudvah had picked Herrington up in Burlington on March 2 at Haines’ request, and Herrington got in the car and put the duffle bag in the trunk.
Pudvah, according to the statement, brought Herrington back to the Cambridge residence where Haines and Herrington hung out together, before the two men went back to Burlington.
Haines left Burlington alone and returned home, according to the statement, and then went to a friend’s house and showed that friend a large amount of heroin in a ziplock baggie.
Court filing stated that the friend later used some of that heroin, overdosed and was treated by medical staff.
After Haines was killed, court records stated, a search of his residence turned up a large amount of heroin in a ziplock bag.