VERGENNES — Vergennes police say charges are possible for as many as five people, four of them Northlands Job Corps students, following a Jan. 18 incident along the Macdonough Drive side of Otter Creek.
Police said they responded to a reported assault at the site and that a man with a bloody nose reported that four males had attacked him. Police followed footprints back to the Northlands campus and said they spoke to one adult and three juvenile students about the incident.
All four said they were on the scene to buy marijuana from the alleged victim, police said, and one of them had allegedly been punched. However, the statements of all the parties involved conflicted, police said, and they are working with the Addison County State’s Attorney’s office on this case.
In other incidents between Jan. 18 and 24, Vergennes police:
•  On Jan. 18 ticketed and ordered towed two cars in violation of the city’s wintertime overnight parking ban, and on Jan. 19 ticketed one car in violation of the ban.
•  On Jan. 19 were told that a city resident’s painkillers had been stolen while in Burlington; police told the complainant it was a Burlington police case.
•  On Jan. 19 found a door open at an Ice House Court home and locked it after making sure the home was secure.
•  On Jan. 19 helped Vermont State Police at a family disturbance on Route 22A in Panton.
•  On Jan. 20 helped a motorist get into a locked car on New Haven Road.
•  On Jan. 21 checked the welfare of a Vergennes Union Elementary School student on behalf of the school administration and referred the case to the Department for Children and Families (DCF).
•  On Jan. 21 received a tip about illegal drug activity in the Vergennes area.
•  On Jan. 21 responded to a report about a woman in a car taking photos of kids getting off a bus on First Street; police spoke to her and learned she was trying to prove the street was wide enough for the bus to drive on to pick up children; police suggested she stop taking photos.
•  On Jan. 22 received a tip about a city resident’s Facebook posts describing inappropriate levels of physical discipline being used on a child; police and DCF are investigating.
•  On Jan. 22 helped the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad on North Street, where a resident had injured his arm in a wood splitter.
•  On Jan. 23 discussed options with a woman who reported her ex-husband was making unwanted phone contact after a restraining order had expired.
•  On Jan. 23 and 24 helped a woman who was feeling despondent and possibly suicidal. On the 23rd police arranged for help from the Counseling Service of Addison County, and on Jan. 24 police called VARS to take her to Porter Hospital to meet with CSAC.