RUTLAND — Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer has pleaded not guilty to five additional criminal charges, bringing the total number of counts against him to 12.
Palmer, 39, of Windsor, was initially arraigned in January on seven charges, including lewd and lascivious conduct and stalking. He pleaded not guilty and was released on conditions.
On Friday, about a week after Vermont State Police announced the filing of additional charges against Palmer, he pleaded not guilty, through his attorney, to five more counts during a hearing in Rutland County Superior criminal court.
The new charges include soliciting prostitution and an additional count of lewd and lascivious conduct.
The prosecutor Friday did not seek any bail for Palmer. Judge Cortland Corsones imposed the same release conditions for Palmer as were set in January. Those conditions prohibit Palmer from contacting certain witnesses as well as preventing him from possessing a firearm.
The initial seven charges against Palmer included allegations that he paid three women to watch him perform sex acts in person or online. Also, according to charging documents, Palmer was accused of stalking two of the women, driving past them in his cruiser after they ended contact with him.
Vermont State Police said last week that the investigation into Palmer continued and two more women came forward with allegations against him. One of the women said Palmer paid her to watch him perform sex acts over several years, a police affidavit filed in support of the new charges stated.
The prosecution had sought to file a total of 10 more charges against Palmer last week. However, Corsones, the judge, ruled at that time only five of them met the legal standard for moving forward, and the other five did not.
Dan Sedon, Palmer’s attorney, questioned in court Friday whether some of those remaining new charges against Palmer met the legal standard for moving forward. For example, he said, one of the charges alleged lewd and lascivious conduct over video. It wasn’t clear from the charging documents, Sedon said, what exactly the video showed.
“We’re entitled to a more definite statement,” Sedon said, adding, “The general allegation of behavior here does not in and of itself constitute lewd and lascivious behavior without further facts alleged.”
Bennington County Deputy State’s Attorney Jared Bianchi, the prosecutor, disputed the contention that charge documents lacked the information to support the charge that Palmer committed a lewd act.
“There’s more than enough information there about nonconsented to sexualized communication,” Bianchi said.
Corsones said during the hearing that all the charges he had earlier found a legal basis for would continue to move forward.
“Certainly you can file a motion for a more definite statement for any of the counts,” the judge said to Sedon. “We’ll deal with that request in that manner.”
Asked about the filing of the additional charges, Palmer told reporters after the hearing, “The judge didn’t find probable cause on a lot of those so, you know, we’re going to keep moving forward through the legal process and go from there.”
Palmer said in January after his first arraignment that he has stepped away from his work, and he reiterated that Friday after the hearing. Another person in the office is now running the day-to-day operations of the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department.
In February, about a week after his initial arrest, the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, which regulates law enforcement in the state, temporarily revoked Palmer’s law enforcement certification.
Palmer, a Democrat, was elected in 2022 to a four-year term that is up for reelection in November.
Palmer said outside the courtroom Friday that he hasn’t ruled out running for another term.
“I haven’t made that decision,” he said.
