VERGENNES — Vergennes police on Jan. 26 responded to a report that two Vergennes Union High School students found a bullet in the hallway that runs between the school’s high school gymnasium and its nearby concession stand. 

Police said the students reported they first tossed the bullet into a trash can, but then realized they should report it and retrieved it and turned it into administrators. Police said video of the hallway confirmed their story, but did not reveal how the bullet got there in the first place, something that remains under investigation.

Police said they stepped up patrols in the general area, but that there appeared to be no threat to the school community. 

In other action between Jan. 22 and 28, Vergennes police conducted nine cruiser patrols, one traffic stop and two VIN inspections; processed seven fingerprint requests; responded to a false alarm; and also: 

On Jan. 22:

• Dealt with two fender-benders, taking a report about one that had occurred at VUHS two days earlier and responding to one in the Shaw’s Supermarket parking lot.

• Attempted to process a request to serve a court order from Lebanon, N.H., police on a person they were told was a patient of the Valley Vista rehab facility, but were informed by the Valley Vista folks that the identity of patients was confidential. 

• Determined a report of a light left on in an empty Main Street building was not a problem.

• Helped a Main Street resident remove an unwanted man from her apartment; police also counseled her to have her landlord fix her front door lock. 

On Jan. 24:

• Heard from a woman that an older man whose identity was unknown was making her uncomfortable at work and near her residence; police are keeping an eye out for a potential suspect.

• Spoke to a Vergennes Union Elementary School student who was refusing to attend class and convinced him to do so.

• In responding to a dispute between two women at a Second Street residence ended up arresting a man also living there for failing to comply with the Sex Offender Registry. Cited on Jan. 25 was Joshua Parizo, 39, who police said was transported to the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility and lodged there for lack of $1,000 bail.

Police said Parizo came to their attention because one of the women allegedly assaulted him. That woman was involved in what was essentially a landlord-tenant dispute because, police report, she was the unwanted tenant who had been allowed to live at the home for six months.

Police also spoke with the two women, both on the scene and at the station the next day. They informed the homeowner she would have to go through an eviction process to remove her tenant, and suggested the tenant should look for a new place.

On Jan. 25 were told by a VUHS parent her child was being harassed by another student, an issue also reported to administrators.

On Jan. 26:

• Took a report that a car parked on Main Street had been vandalized.

• On behalf of one woman checked the welfare of another woman on Green Street, who police learned was fine. They also were told by the woman they checked on that the caller had mental health issues, and that she had blocked the caller six months ago. 

On Jan. 27:

• Ended up referring a case to Vermont State Police that twice drew city police and the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad to the West Main Street area. First they responded to a report of a man who appeared intoxicated and disheveled walking near the cemetery near the Panton town line, but found no one. 

However, soon afterward both agencies were called to a Hillside Drive apartment after they learned the man had gone there because it was the home of a relative, and that he had obviously been beaten up, according to police. A couple questions soon revealed the incident causing his facial and other injuries had occurred in Panton in state police jurisdiction. City police then notified troopers of the case and that VARS was transporting the man to Porter Hospital. 

• In an unrelated case on West Main Street dealt with a threat being made to a woman along that roadside, apparently, police said, for attempting to break up a fight involving three men who had been riding together along with her in a pickup. They had stopped, police said, apparently to remove one man for refusing to stop making unwanted sexual advances to the other two men, with punches ensuing on the side of the road. 

The woman told police when she intervened, the man who the other two men wanted to remove from the truck then threatened to shoot up her apartment. Police said they spoke with her about obtaining no-stalking and no-trespassing orders as part of their follow-up on the incident.