Paul Lachapelle Jr., 26, of Springfield pleaded not guilty Friday to unlawful possession of a firearm while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
The offense carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Lachapelle is being held at the Northwestern State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, awaiting further court action.
According to a criminal complaint, the charge stemmed from a 911 call on May 30 about a possible burglary in progress at a Springfield home. When police arrived, they said, they found Lachapelle standing in the driveway.
“Lachapelle initially denied possessing a handgun,” according to the complaint, “but after police confronted him with the homeowner’s reports of seeing the handgun on the surveillance video, Lachapelle admitted he threw the handgun into the tall grass near his vehicle.” Police allege he also had heroin in his possession during an incident earlier in May.
In an interaction with Vermont State Police in May, Lachapelle had “told troopers that he was a user of heroin/fentanyl,” among other substances, according to the complaint.
Court documents say Lachapelle lives on Valley Street, the site of several of Springfield’s recent gunfire incidents, and across the street from where police discovered a pipe bomb last month.
“This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Vermont State Police, the Springfield Police Department, the Chester Police Department and the Ludlow Police Department,” according to a news release from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Vermont.
—Ethan Weinstein