VERGENNES — An expired inspection sticker led to a series of Jan. 19 citations, including a drug charge, for a Panton man.
A Vergennes police officer noticed the expired sticker on a car parked at the Small City Market and pulled the vehicle over soon after on Main Street. During the stop, Vergennes police learned the driver, Michael Atherton, 31, of Panton, had his license suspended, in part, police said, for failure to pay fines.
Police also allege they found drug paraphernalia and a controlled substance in the car. They cited Atherton for driving with a criminally suspended license, driving an uninspected vehicle and for illegal possession of the drug. They also issued him a city ticket for possession of the paraphernalia.
Between Jan. 19 and 25, Vergennes police also issued a total of eight tickets on four different nights for vehicles found violating the city’s wintertime ban on overnight parking on city streets. In that week, they also:
•  On Jan. 19 helped Vermont State Police by checking out a car reported to be off the road just north of the intersection of Routes 7 and 22A, but found nothing.
•  On Jan. 19 looked into a two-car fender-bender in the Shaw’s Supermarket parking lot in which one car left the scene.
•  On Jan. 20 responded to a report of a woman walking on a Main Street sidewalk not being dressed warmly enough and being followed by a car; they found nothing.
•  On Jan. 20 responded to a report of someone lurking around a North Maple Street home and determined that a car parked in a garage had been entered. Police said its glove box had been searched, but nothing seemed to be missing.
•  On Jan. 21 went to Waltham and helped a motorist get into a locked car.
•  On Jan. 21 dealt with a minor two-car accident on Main Street.
•  On Jan. 21 found the door open to a Panton Road storage unit during one of several patrols of the area.
•  On Jan. 21 cited Tyler Wetmore, 26, of Queensbury, N.Y., for driving with a civilly suspended license and using a cellphone while driving, actions taken after they were told of a car being driven erratically on Route 22A in Panton.
•  On Jan. 22 issued a $1,151 ticket for excess weight to a driver of a tractor-trailer truck stopped on Monkton Road.
•  On Jan. 22 began investigating an allegation that a Photoshopped image of a Northlands Job Corps student had been uploaded to a pornography website.
•  On Jan. 23 were told that medications and paperwork of a couple moving into the Armory Lane senior housing complex had gone missing.
•  On Jan. 23 dealt with a minor two-car accident on Main Street.
•  On Jan. 23 went to the city’s East Street recreation area to check a report that one of two men skating there had stopped and loaded a firearm; police found no one.
•  On Jan. 23 responded to a fight on Green Street; police cited Matthew Husk, 33, of Ferrisburgh for disorderly conduct and said they planned to issue a similar citation to Jason Fuller, 33, of Vergennes.
•  On Jan. 24 accepted from a resident unused prescription drugs for destruction.
•  On Jan. 24 began investigating the report of an incident of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor child at Vergennes Union High School.
•  On Jan. 24 while working at the VUHS winter ball ticketed a minor for consumption of alcohol.
•  On Jan. 24 helped the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad deal with a Northlands student who had accidentally overdosed on prescription drugs.
•  On Jan. 25 investigated a report of break-ins into buses parked at VUHS, but found no signs of forced entry.
•  On Jan. 25 were told collectible tools were stolen from a vehicle parked on Main Street near North Maple Street.