ADDISON COUNTY — Thursday, Jan. 10, was a bad night for a 23-year-old man from Elizabethtown, N.Y., when it came to driving on Addison County roads.
At a few minutes after 8 p.m. that evening Vermont State Police responded to a one-car crash on Route 125 in Cornwall. Trooper Timothy Hanley reported that the driver, Nickolas Mahler, told him that he swerved to miss a deer, and, in doing so, drove his 2011 Chevy Impala off Route 125 and into a small grove of trees. The accident resulted in front-end damage to the vehicle, but no one was injured.
Less than three hours later, at 11:45 p.m., Senior Trooper Joseph Pregent from the New Haven barracks of the VSP responded to another one-car accident in which the driver was identified as 23-year-old Nickolas Mahler of Elizabethtown, N.Y. This one occurred on Route 7 north of Ferrisburgh village.
Pregent reported that Mahler was driving a 2011 Ford Escape southbound on Route 7 when, he told police, he heard a pop, after which he was not able to steer. The Ford went off the east side of the road and collided with a mailbox and utility pole. Mahler, who was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, was not injured. Police said the car was a total loss.
Anyone with information on this crash is encouraged to contact the VSP at 802-388-4919. Information can also be submitted anonymously online at www.vtips.info or by texting “CRIMES” (274637) to Keyword: VTIPS.
Meanwhile, state police are investigating a number of burglary reports in the past week or so.
•  On Jan. 7 a Monkton Road resident in the town of Monkton told police that she had left her home for approximately one hour and when she returned she found someone had entered the place and stolen various items of jewelry, loose change and cash.
•  Separately that same day, VSP received a report of a burglary at a Route 116 home in Bristol where the perpetrator entered through the back door and stole jewelry.
•  On Jan. 11 VSP received reports of two residential burglaries. Someone forced entry into a home on Richville Road in Shoreham and stole multiple pieces of antique and modern jewelry, as well as cash and change. State police are asking for assistance in locating several specific pieces of jewelry, namely a silver antique locket with “DAD” inscribed on the front in gold lettering.
Also, a home on Route 7 in New Haven was broken into via the back door and jewelry and silver were reported stolen.
Anyone with information about any of these incidents is encouraged to contact VSP.
In other recent activity, VSP:
•  On Jan. 7 at 5:20 p.m. stopped a vehicle with an expired registration on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh. They cited the driver, identified as Jeffrey B. Smialek, 23, of Burlington, with driving with a criminally suspended license and with providing false information to a law enforcement officer after he allegedly told police his passenger was operating the vehicle.
•  On Jan. 8 at 4:27 p.m. received a complaint of a vehicle that had struck a gas pump at the New Haven Jiffy Mart and failed to stop to render assistance. Police stopped the vehicle and the driver, who identified herself as Rhonda Hill, 40, of Rutland, allegedly admitted to colliding with the gas pump and driving away. The trooper cited Hill for leaving the scene of an accident.
•  On Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. stopped a motor vehicle driven by Steven Allen, 42, of Hinesburg on Route 116 in Starksboro. The trooper cited Allen and his passenger, 46-year-old Pamela Fuller of Starksboro, for possession of marijuana. Allen was also processed for suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs but was not charged with DUI as a blood test is pending.
•  On Jan. 11 at 8:25 p.m. responded to a crash on Satterly Road in Ferrisburgh, where police said Amanda L. Jerry, 27, of Ferrisburgh lost control of her 2003 Dodge Neon on a curve during an episode of sleet with icy conditions. The Neon collided with a bridge damaging both sides of the car; there were no injuries. The trooper said poor road conditions were a contributing factor to the collision, and he issued Jerry a written warning for speeding.
•  On Jan. 11 at 11 p.m. responded to a one-car accident in which 25-year-old Elyse Kauffman of Addison was driving a Ford Explorer northbound on East Street in Bridport, lost control of the vehicle and went off the east side of the road striking a tree. Kauffman was uninjured and the vehicle was towed from the scene without issue.
•  On Jan. 12 received a report that an unknown individual operating a dark red Mitsubishi Eclipse on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh went through a snow bank and struck state highway signs as well as a private mailbox. The vehicle then left the scene and has not been located. Anyone with information regarding an Eclipse with recently sustained damage is asked to contact VSP.
•  On Jan. 13 at 11 a.m. arrested 23-year-old Joshua Wells of Bridport after the New York State Police contacted VSP with information that they suspected Wells had stolen a vehicle in New York and driven it to Vermont. VSP said that they found Wells indeed had stolen the vehicle and driven it into Vermont with a criminally suspended driver’s license. Police lodged Wells at the Chittenden County Correctional Center as a fugitive from justice after New York officials issued an extraditable felony warrant for the offense in their state.
•  On Jan. 13 at 3 p.m. cited Kelly Barrows, 21, for domestic assault at his residence in Addison. He was arrested and released with court-ordered conditions.
•  On Jan. 13 at 11:04 p.m. were called to a report of a family fight on Tyler Bridge Road in Starksboro. Troopers arrested Hassimiou Bangoura, 33, of Starksboro, cited him for domestic assault and lodged him at the Marble Valley Correctional Center.
•  On Jan. 14 just before 7 p.m. stopped a motor vehicle driven by Matthew Paquette, 25, of Whiting on Wooster Road in Whiting for defective equipment. Police cited Paquette for a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.
•  Over the past three weeks troopers have been investigating a case that began on Dec. 23, when a 66-year-old Vergennes woman reported her wallet — including a credit card and debit card — had been stolen out of her car in Ferrisburgh. During the investigation police discovered that the debit and credit card were used in Chittenden County at numerous stores to make purchases. The total charges to both cards were approximately $1,946.
This week, troopers cited Justin L. Perkins, 28, of Winooski into Chittenden County Court for six counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, and cited him into Addison District Court for petit larceny for allegedly stealing the wallet. Police also cited Priscilla A. Perkins, 30, of Colchester into Chittenden County Court for one count of fraudulent use of a credit card.