A former Waterbury CBD business owner has reached a plea deal on charges accusing him of ripping off people from whom he bought hemp.
The plea agreement allows Douglas Bell to avoid prison time, but he must pay nearly $40,000 in restitution to those he was charged with scamming.
Bell, a former Middlesex resident who owned a CBD shop on Route 100 in Waterbury, was initially arrested and charged in 2019 related to his dealings with five different farmers and vendors.
A handful of other parties later came forward, with Bell at one point facing more than a dozen charges, including theft of service, writing bad checks and false pretense.
Under the plea agreement, Bell was sentenced Friday to a total of two to four years in prison, all suspended except 10 days he has already served. Bell, who will be on probation for five years, has agreed to pay roughly $40,000 in restitution.
He also pleaded guilty earlier in the hearing in Washington County Superior criminal court in Barre to several misdemeanor charges — three counts of false pretenses, two counts of passing bad checks and a single count of driving under the influence. Several other charges were dismissed.
The case was heavily litigated over the years, focusing on questions of intent and whether the prosecution could show Bell “knowingly” agreed to contracts with farmers that he couldn’t fulfill.
Rory Thibault, the Washington County state’s attorney, said the almost $40,000 in restitution allows for a “partial” payment to the farmers and vendors who were allegedly ripped off by Bell.
Earlier reports pegged the amount scammed at $500,000, though after the hearing Friday Thibault said that was not necessarily the case.
“That’s the contracted amount,” Thibault said of the $500,000 figure. “Vermont’s current restitution law doesn’t allow for recovery of anticipated or expected profit, so the final number we arrived at when looking at each victim was considerably less.”
For example, the prosecutor said, one farmer had a contracted amount of about $50,000, while the actual loss was about $13,000
“So that might lend some perspective if they’re used as a benchmark,” Thibault said. “The actual losses were considerably less than what the contract price was.”
During the hearing, the prosecutor called the agreement with Bell a “compromise” that took several factors into consideration.
“At the beginning of this, alcohol was noted to be a significant issue and factor that may have led to some bad decision-making or may have been a symptom of failing business,” Thibault said. “Generally speaking, candor and honesty is the better path in dealing with others,” he later added.
Andrew Schmidt, Bell’s attorney, told Judge Kevin Griffin it was never his client’s intent to cause harm to the farmers.
“He’s felt awful about the decisions he made and the impact it has had on the farmers,” Schmidt said, and Bell has expressed his desire to pay restitution as soon as possible.
Schmidt said Bell is now a caregiver to his mother and is living in Massachusetts, where he will serve his probation.
Griffin, the judge, told Bell that if he violates the terms of his probation, including payment of the restitution, he faces serving the suspended two-to-four-year prison sentence.
“We’re not going anywhere,” the judge said to him. “Understood?”
“Yes, your honor,” Bell replied.
