LEICESTER — A Middlebury man police say brandished a gun and threatened to shoot the owner of a Leicester scrap yard last week is out on bail.
Kadia J. Barenbaum, 56, on Thursday, Jan. 21, pleaded innocent to a felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and to a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment.
Vermont State Police alleged that Barenbaum went to Brandon Scrap Metal on Route 7 in Leicester around noon on Wednesday, Jan. 20, requesting a vehicle inspection on his Subaru station wagon. When a Brandon Scrap Metal employee told him that he was not licensed to do inspections, Barenbaum became irate and began yelling, according to an affidavit filed by state police Trooper Adria Picken in Addison Superior Court, criminal division.
Barenbaum then went out to his vehicle and came back holding a .45 caliber handgun and “began waving it around,” according to Picken’s narrative. Barenbaum then showed the employees another handgun tucked under his coat, Brandon Scrap Metal employee Greg Bianchi told police. Barenbaum then said that he would be back, wrote a note threatening Brandon Scrap Metal owner Arlan Pidgeon, and left, driving south on Route 7.
According to the affidavit, Barenbaum drove to the Champlain Beverage store on Route 7, formerly the Leicester Store. Mark Rivait, a clerk in the store, told Picken that Barenbaum came in to the store and, the affidavit said, “several customers reported seeing Barenbaum ‘cocking’ the .45 caliber handgun and yelling that he was going to ‘shoot up’ Brandon Scrap Metal and Brandon House of Pizza.”
Barenbaum then returned to Brandon Scrap Metal and tried to gain access, Picken wrote.
Bianchi told Trooper Picken that he locked all the doors at Brandon Scrap Metal and shut off all the lights; someone called 911. When Barenbaum couldn’t get in, he left, before Trooper Picken arrived, and again drove south on Route 7.
It took half a day for police to find Barenbaum and arrest him.
Police issued a “be on the lookout” to law enforcement in both Addison and Rutland counties. Several law enforcement agencies, including Middlebury police, Addison County sheriff’s deputies, and Vermont game wardens joined in the search.
It was discovered that Barenbaum was driving his mother’s 2001 Subaru Legacy. Middlebury Police Officer Austin got ahold of Barenbaum’s cell phone number, and police tried to find him by pinging the phone’s location, but the phone company told them that the phone was off.
A tip was received that Barenbaum was seen driving in the direction of West Shore Road in Salisbury, but police did not find him there.
At about 1 a.m. on Jan. 21, Rutland City Police apprehended Barenbaum and handed him over to state police working out of the Rutland barracks. According to the affidavit, Barenbaum was in possession of a Ruger SR45 handgun at the time of his arrest.
Barenbaum was arraigned at the Frank Mahady Courthouse in Middlebury on Thursday, Jan. 21. After he pleaded innocent to the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment charges, Barenbaum, who was listed as being an unemployed carpenter, was lodged at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland for lack of $2,500 bail.
Barenbaum made bail and was released with conditions later the same day. He is not allowed to have any contact with the employees or owner of Brandon Scrap Metal, and must stay at least 100 yards away from the business. He is also ordered by the court not to buy or possess alcohol or firearms.
Barenbaum’s history with law enforcement includes at least two previous weapons arrests. He was arrested in Salem, Mass., in 2002 and cited for possession of a dangerous weapon, and at a 2010 traffic stop arrest in Rockport, Maine, that led to another weapons possession charge, plus citations for speeding, driving without a license and failure to yield, according to court documents. In the Maine case he eventually pleaded guilty to the speeding and driving without a license charges, according to the Gloucester Times.
And just last month, Barenbaum’s name came up in an investigation of a shooting incident closer to home in Salisbury.
On Dec. 8, 2015, Roger Stone, 72, called state police to his home on Shard Villa Road in Salisbury at about 11 p.m. Stone allegedly told the dispatcher that he shot at Barenbaum with a pistol in his driveway after asking him to leave numerous times. Stone faces a reckless endangerment charge in this case. Barenbaum was not charged in the incident.
Barenbaum is due back in Addison Superior Court on Feb. 29 at 10 a.m. for a status conference.