VERGENNES — Vergennes police on July 3 arrested a 23-year-old Brandon man for allegedly assaulting a 15-year-old Vergennes resident who was on the way to the city’s annual Independence Day fireworks display and stealing his wallet.
Police allege Michael D. Shively of Champearl Road sometime before 9:30 p.m. grabbed the teen from a North Main Street sidewalk, pulled him into some bushes, assaulted him by punching him in the ribs and ripping his shirt, and took the wallet.
Police said the victim escaped Shively by punching him in the face several times, and then finding family members to help him and notify police. By then, police said they had taken Shively into custody “as an intoxicated person” following an incident at a nearby convenience store. The victim at that point identified Shively as he was sitting in the back of a Vergennes police cruiser.
Shively was arrested, charged with assault and robbery, lodged at the Chittenden County Correctional Center for lack of $25,000 bail, and arraigned in Burlington late last week.
In other incidents between July 2 and 8, Vergennes police:
• On July 2 helped a parent at a New Haven Road home enforce a court order regarding a child custody arrangement.
• On July 2 helped Middlebury police reach a Vergennes woman who had found a wallet in Middlebury.
• On July 2 dealt with vandalism on Bombard Place in which a rock had apparently been thrown through a storm door window.
• While in Middlebury on July 3 accepted a found wallet and worked with Middlebury police to return it to its owner.
• On July 3 advised parties involved in a civil dispute over a car repossession to wait until July 5 and talk to attorneys.
• On July 4 dealt with a case in which a drunken man repeatedly refused to leave a South Maple Street property in the early morning hours. Police turned him over to a family member after his blood-alcohol content tested at 0.269 percent; after a brief consultation with the state’s attorney’s office, police did not cite the homeowner for punching the man in the nose after asking him to leave many times.
• On July 4 helped, along with the department canine, Bristol police at the scene of a nursing home break-in; Bristol police subsequently made two arrests.
• On July 5 while on patrol were approached by Samuel Helmuth, 34, of Bristol, who turned himself in because he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for failing to complete a work crew sentence. Police lodged Helmuth at the Marble Valley Correctional Center.
• On July 5 investigated a break-in at a School Street home in which a residence was forcibly entered and cabinets were left open, but nothing was taken.
• On July 5 dealt with a minor two-car accident at the intersection of West Main Street and Panton Road.
• On July 5 accepted unused prescription drugs to be destroyed.
• On July 5 checked a report of a fight in a South Water Street apartment, but heard nothing on arrival and received no answer to knocks on the door.
• On July 5 calmed a dispute between a man and his South Water Street neighbors.
• On July 6 mediated a dispute between a landlord and tenant at the Whispering Pines Campground in Panton.
• On July 6 checked out a complaint that dogs were left without water in a car parked on North Main Street; police decided the dogs were OK.
• On July 6 were told by an elderly Monkton Road resident’s daughter that the woman had almost fallen for a scam in which a man had called and pretended to be her grandson and asked for $1,900 because he had been jailed in Mexico City.
• On July 6 looked into a case in which insulting graffiti had been written on Park Street; police said similar material had been written around the county and that they have a suspect.
• On July 6 were told by Champlain Farms workers they suspected someone had passed counterfeit money; police said they thought the bills were real and advised the money be checked at a bank.
• On July 6 received a complaint from a Main Street apartment resident that someone had entered her apartment without permission while she was in the shower; police discovered the building superintendent had done so to make repairs, not expecting anyone to be home, and they advised him to seek permission first in the future.
• On July 7 helped the Addison County Sheriff’s Department process a criminal driving-with-a-suspended-license case at the police station.
• On July 8 helped the city dog warden by taking a sick dog to the Vergennes Animal Hospital.
• On July 8 dealt with a parking complaint at 1 Alden Place.
• On July 8 went to Whispering Pines on behalf of Vermont State Police to handle a reported domestic dispute; police said they found no real problem.
• On July 8 helped try to track down a 19-year-old female on behalf of her West Street parents; despite phone calls to Chittenden County departments, police had no luck.
• On July 8 went to a North Street residence after a report of a verbal family fight and counseled the woman involved.
• On July 8 asked skateboarders behind the Bixby Library to stop.
• On July 8 went to a Kellogg Bay Road home in Ferrisburgh and determined that a woman’s report of men taking things from her porch was not accurate.
• On July 8 helped Bristol process a drunk-driving case at the police station.