BARRE — A Waterbury man has changed his pleas in case where police say he pointed a gun at someone and struck a Vermont State Police trooper after trying to flush drugs down a toilet.
Aldrain Ashby, 37, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington County criminal court in Barre to misdemeanor counts of cocaine possession, narcotics possession and resisting arrest. Ashby was sentenced to 119 to 120 days to serve. He will report Jan. 17 to the Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury to begin serving his sentence. Ashby will receive credit for time served, since he was held on $50,000 bail for about 10 days following his arraignment until he was bailed out.
Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault agreed to dismiss two felony counts of first-degree aggravated domestic assault with a weapon, felony counts of first-degree aggravated domestic assault and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, as well as misdemeanor counts of criminal threatening and reckless endangerment, per the plea agreement.
According to court records, in May a man called police to report Ashby was pointing a gun at the caller’s former girlfriend in Waterbury. Police said Ashby was the woman’s current partner.
Police located the victim, according to court records, who reported Ashby had not pointed a gun at her that day but had in the past.
Ashby was found on the porch of the victim’s home, and police said he ran from investigators back into the home when approached. Police said Ashby tried to keep investigators out of the home and then fled to the bathroom where he tried to flush drugs. He then struggled with troopers and hit one of them in the face with his elbow while being taken into custody, according to court records.
Police said the victim gave investigators permission to search her bathroom, and they found a baggie in the toilet containing a white substance that weighed 5.5 grams and field tested positive for cocaine and 70 pills that initially appeared to be the opioid oxycodone but may have been homemade pills containing fentanyl. Ashby told police the drugs were for personal use and denied being a drug dealer.
Police said the victim reported Ashby had told her he was going to kill her. She told investigators about an incident during which Ashby had put a gun “to my temple,” and another incident in which he had choked her, according to court records.
Thibault said the state came to this agreement with Ashby because the victim has declined to participate in the case. The prosecutor said he had offered Ashby a sentence that would have been centered around probation, but Ashby preferred a to-serve sentence.
Ashby’s attorney, Avi Springer, said Ashby accepts responsibility for the charges to which he’s pleaded guilty. He said Ashby’s hope is to serve this sentence and then move out of the state.
Ashby wished Judge Kevin Griffin a happy new year when asked if he had anything to say at Tuesday’s hearing.
Griffin then accepted the agreement.
