RUTLAND — Jake Desjadon, 30, of Vergennes on March 10 pleaded innocent in state criminal court in Rutland to three felonies and two misdemeanor charges stemming from what Vermont State Police allege are multiple burglaries and from the circumstances of his March 9 arrest by VSP and Vergennes police.
Desjadon was ordered held in the Marble Valley Correctional Center for lack of $75,000 bail.
He is charged with felony burglary and grand larceny for allegedly stealing an ATV and trailer valued at $3,000 from a Kimball Dock Road property in Ferrisburgh on Feb. 27; with a felony count of selling stolen property with a value greater than $900 for allegedly trading the ATV and trailer for drugs; with unlawful mischief for damaging a vehicle during the theft, a misdemeanor; and resisting arrest at his Vergennes apartment on March 9, also a misdemeanor.
According to an affidavit filed in Rutland and in Addison Superior Court’s Criminal Division by VSP Trooper Joseph Szarejko, Desjadon “admitted to stealing an ATV and a trailer from a residence” to Vergennes Police Sgt. Jason Ouellette and to Szarejko, “advised he has stolen property including a host of tools in his storage locker at his property” and had stored other items at a Monkton camp, and “admitted to numerous other burglaries and thefts to other troopers.
“Additional charges are going to be brought forth,” wrote Szarejko, who in a press release last week alleged some of the items police recovered in Vergennes had been taken during “smash and grab” thefts at area trailheads.
State police focused on Desjadon as a suspect after the Ferrisburgh homeowner told them he had surveillance video of the theft. Szarejko met with the resident several days later to review the video and wrote in his affidavit, “I was able to recognize a male know to me from previous law enforcement contacts as Jake Desjadon.”
Vergennes Sgt. Brent Newton later confirmed the ID, Szarejko wrote, and Desjadon was asked to come to the Vergennes Police Department to speak with Ouellette on March 8. There, he allegedly confessed, Szarejko wrote, and Ouellette told Desjadon VSP would speak to him about other burglaries. Szarejko then began to talk with Desjadon, who according to Szarejko then admitted trading the stolen goods — later recovered by Essex police — for buprenorphine, an opioid.
Desjadon at that point was released because he was cooperating, but then failed to show up for follow-up meetings with police. Vergennes police learned in speaking with his girlfriend, Renee Nicholson, 31, that Desjadon might be suicidal (later she added he was looking to find money to flee Vermont), and thus VSP “pinged” his phone to find him in order to do a welfare check as well as take him into custody.
That tactic pinned down his location at a Main Street apartment shared by Desjadon and Nicholson. VSP allege Nicholson delayed and tried to mislead troopers and Vergennes officers at the door of her apartment. Troopers in the yard then spotted Desjadon on the roof of a porch outside the apartment, and police inside pulled him back into the apartment. There, VSP allege he refused to cooperate with being handcuffed before he was “subsequently subdued.”
Desjadon could face 15 years in prison plus a $1,000 fine on the burglary count, and 10 years in prison and $5,000 fines for the grand larceny and selling of stolen property charges. The misdemeanor penalties are less severe.