PAWLET — Daniel Banyai may have left Vermont with no plan to return, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.
Banyai owns a property on Briar Hill Road and has been embroiled in a legal dispute with the town for several years now over the permits for his Slate Ridge firearms training school. Late last year, after a visit to the property by town officials to see whether he’d compiled with court orders to remove the unpermitted structures, the Environmental Court found that he wasn’t in compliance and updated a mittimus for his arrest. The mittimus, among other things, directed Rutland County Sheriff’s Department and Vermont State Police to file affidavits on a monthly basis detailing their efforts to find him.
Two affidavits were filed Wednesday, one by Lt. Doug Norton of Vermont State Police and the other by Rutland County Sheriff David Fox.
The court originally issued a mittimus for Banyai’s arrest this past summer when he didn’t show up for a scheduled site visit at his property. The mittimus then gave any police agency in Vermont the directive to arrest him within 60 days. Those days came and went without an arrest being made. The Environmental Court initially declined to modify it while Banyai’s appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court was pending, but then the higher court released an order saying the Environmental Court was free to do that much.
According to Norton’s affidavit, he was made aware of the court having extended the mittimus on Dec. 4. The following day he spoke with other VSP personnel, Fox, and Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan. On Dec. 7, Sgt. Mark Perkins, of the VSP, was assigned to work with the sheriff’s department on the Banyai matter. The next day, Norton contacted Robert Kaplan, Banyai’s attorney, to discuss having Banyai surrender. According to Norton, Kaplan claimed not to have spoken with Banyai recently but would contact Norton when he did.
Norton heard back from Kaplan on Dec. 13.
“Attorney Kaplan indicated he understood that Mr. Banyai was not currently in Vermont, nor did he have plans to return to the state,” Norton’s affidavit reads. “Attorney Kaplan added that he did not possess more specific information as to Mr. Banyai’s whereabouts.”
Police sought to take Banyai into custody at a meeting he had scheduled at the Vermont Probation and Parole Office in Rutland on Dec. 19 should he show up in person, which he wasn’t required to do.
“Ultimately, Mr. Banyai contacted the Probation and Parole Office by electronic means, which is acceptable, indicating that he was not going to appear in person. The operation concluded with Mr. Banyai not being located by Vermont State Police or other law enforcement officers,” wrote Norton.
On Dec. 21, Norton contacted Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility asking whether it was aware of the court order directing Banyai to surrender to them there. They weren’t aware of it, according to Norton, who asked the facility to contact him if Banyai didn’t surrender by midnight on Dec. 22. Ultimately, Banyai did not surrender to the jail.
Norton spoke to attorney Merrill Bent, who represents the town, on Dec. 23. He wrote that she told him “that negotiations between Mr. Banyai and the town on this matter had resumed,” though this hadn’t led to his location being known.
“Throughout the month of December, investigatory steps have been taken to place Mr. Banyai into custody, to include, but not limited to, intelligence gathering, meetings with stakeholders, and investigative plans” Norton wrote. “Periodic checks of Mr. Banyai’s residence in Pawlet have continued in an attempt to locate him. A total of 14 such checks have been performed since issuance of the mittimus on December 4, 2023.”
Fox’s affidavit outlines a similar chain of events ending with Banyai not being located.
