A Rutland man is in jail awaiting trial on a charge he held up a Wallingford store at knifepoint, and police say he is a suspect in five other armed robberies.
Joey Miles Sherwood, 31, pleaded not guilty Friday during a video arraignment on a federal charge of interference with commerce by robbery. Sherwood took part in the hearing via video from the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle granted a request by Jonathan Ophardt, the acting U.S. attorney for Vermont, to keep Sherwood in custody until his trial.
“In the post-arrest statement, Mr. Sherwood stated that he and another individual needed money to buy drugs and that was the motivation,” Ophardt told the court.
Sara Puls, a federal public defender representing Sherwood, argued for her client’s release. She said Sherwood was a lifelong resident of Vermont, with a girlfriend who was willing to give him a place to stay. Puls also said Sherwood was agreeable to attending a residential treatment program, if released.
Sherwood was arrested last week after police traced him through the license plate on his vehicle, which had been parked in a lot near one of the robberies.
Ophardt told the court Friday that authorities found multiple knives inside Sherwood’s vehicle when he was arrested.
“In addition, he confessed to possessing a knife at the time of the Aug. 1, 2021, robbery and using it very much as a dangerous weapon,” the prosecutor said.
A Vermont State Police detective, Sgt. Jeffrey Stephenson, wrote in an affidavit in support of the charge that Sherwood went into the Cumberland Farms convenience store in Wallingford, got a soda from a drink cooler, then went to the counter and asked for two packs of cigarettes. As the cashier rang up the sale, Sherwood took out a knife and demanded money, the detective wrote.
Sherwood got $156 in cash and $21 in merchandise, Stephenson wrote.
According to Stephenson, Sherwood is suspected of committing five other knifepoint robberies at convenience stores in Rutland and Addison counties.
Those five robberies include:
- July 5 and 16 at Mac’s convenience store in Rutland.
- Aug. 1 at Maplefields convenience store in Pittsford.
- Aug. 21 at Shoreham Service Station.
- Aug. 21 at Union Street Grocery in Brandon.
“Although he did not make admissions to [the other five robberies], they have substantial similarities,” Ophardt said. The prosecutor said Sherwood’s appearance is “consistent” with the person shown in surveillance footage from those robberies, and in each of those cases, the cashiers were threatened with a knife.
After his arrest last week, court filings stated, Sherwood told police that for the past three to four months he was a daily user of cocaine, and used heroin every other day.
According to court filings, Sherwood was released on conditions after a 2020 arrest in New Hampshire on a charge of attempted felonious assault. That case was a result of a police online child sex sting, the Valley News reported at the time.
In addition, court records stated, he was released on conditions after a March arrest on charges of burglary and possession of stolen property in Rutland County, and after a May arrest on a charge of aiding in the commission of a burglary in Addison County.
