BARRE — A St. Johnsbury man is accused of stealing catalytic converters from Green Mountain Transit buses in Berlin.
Gary Brian Bolton, 34, pleaded not guilty by video Wednesday in Washington County criminal court in Barre to nine felony counts of grand larceny and five misdemeanor counts of unlawful mischief.
If convicted, Bolton faces a maximum sentence of 95 years in prison. He has been ordered held on $500 bail in a separate case out of Caledonia County and was housed at Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury as of Thursday morning.
For eight of the grand larceny charges and all of the unlawful mischief charges, Cpl. David Rhoden, of the Berlin police, said in his affidavit he was told catalytic converters had been stolen from GMT buses in October 2022. Rhoden said those at the company reported staff realized the converters had been stolen when they arrived for work and noticed the buses sounded different while running. He said those at GMT reported the converters were likely stolen the night before.
Rhoden said surveillance footage showed a vehicle driving onto the property and parking behind the buses. He said the footage showed the vehicle leaving a little over 20 minutes later.
Overall, he said a total of 13 buses had their converters stolen.
Rhoden said police then put out a news release seeking information about the incident. He said police in Bradford reported Bolton was connected to the vehicle through an investigation conducted in that area.
Rhoden said Bolton was interviewed by police in November 2022 as part of that separate investigation, where he admitted to taking 13 catalytic converters from GMT buses.
For the ninth grand larceny charge Bolton faces, Rhoden said in that affidavit a catalytic converter had been stolen from a vehicle at a business on Route 302 in October 2022. Rhoden said those at the company reported the converter had been stolen from the company’s truck.
He said Bolton was connected to this theft through the same investigation that identified him as being involved in the thefts from GMT.
In court Wednesday, defense attorney Maggie Vincent said Bolton told her that he is scheduled for a change of plea hearing in January for his other open cases, where he’s looking at a sentence of three to 10 years to serve. Vincent suggested these charges could be included in that agreement.
Deputy State’s Attorney Talon Wendel said his office would need to review the agreement.
Judge John Pacht said he would set the case for a hearing in late January, where the parties could enter into a concurrent agreement with the plea deal for in the cases outside Washington County.
