GREENFIELD — The Vermont woman arrested Thursday on suspicion of breaking and entering into a Bernardston residence was ordered held on $5,000 bail in Greenfield District Court on Monday, two days after allegedly re-offending after checking herself out of a hospital.
Kristian Dubois, 33, of Springfield, Vermont, appeared before Judge William E. Rooney, and pleas of not guilty were entered on her behalf by Stephen Shea, a private attorney appointed to represent Dubois. In relation to a crime in Greenfield on Saturday, she was charged with breaking and entering into a building in the daytime to commit a felony; breaking and entering into a vehicle or boat during the daytime to commit a felony; larceny from a building; attempting to commit a crime, to wit, theft of a motor vehicle; and defacing property. Dubois also faces charges of breaking and entering and several drug-related offenses for the prior incident in Bernardston which she was ordered held on $5,000 bail.
A Facebook post signed by Bernardston Police Chief James Palmeri states his department was dispatched to a Northfield Road address in his town for a reported burglar inside a residence Thursday at around 2:30 p.m. The reporting party was the homeowner, who stated he was locked out of his house. The homeowner also reported an unknown Vermont-registered vehicle in his driveway. The vehicle had been reported stolen in Brattleboro, Vermont.
The Greenfield and Northfield police departments and Massachusetts State Police were called in to assist, the Facebook post states, and tracking with a K-9 ensued.
During the investigation, the Shelburne Control dispatch center started getting calls from other residences in the neighborhood reporting a suspicious person that matched Dubois’ description. She was arrested in a Merrifield Road backyard following a brief foot pursuit.
At Monday’s arraignment, Shea said Dubois was taken to the hospital due to a 2-inch-by-2-inch wound on her hand and statements of intended self-harm. She was found to be in possession of a glass pipe, scale, 20 grams of crack cocaine, 360 wax baggies of a substance believed to be heroin and several empty wax baggies.
According to court documents, Greenfield police officers were dispatched to a High Street residence on a report of breaking and entering in progress Saturday at 9:54 a.m. An occupant of the home described the suspect as a woman weighing about 120 pounds and said he was pinning her down to subdue her.
Greenfield Police Sgt. Jason Haskins reports he arrived at the residence and saw a man holding down a woman — later identified as Dubois — on a slight hill. Haskins reports Dubois stated several times “That’s my money” and “That was my money and they attacked me.” Haskins noticed a pile of crumpled paper currency, which appeared to be mostly $10 bills, on the ground to the right of Dubois, who was clutching a similar pile of bills in her right hand. Haskins reports he detained Dubois, who had a large open wound on her hand with bandaging near it.
Dubois reportedly told Haskins she had a little more than $100 on her in “mostly $10s, $20s and a stack of $1s.” Haskins located the stack of $1 bills in the right pocket of Dubois’ jacket and placed her under arrest. She was taken to Baystate Franklin Medical Center with Greenfield Police Detective Corey Greene.
The residence’s occupants told police they had arrived home from getting doughnuts and had left the door unlocked, according to court documents. They said they went into another room for a few minutes and one of them returned to the entryway room, where he saw the contents of his bag and his wife’s purse strewn about on the floor, as well as a piece of feces on the rug. He reported he then yelled to his wife that he thought they had been robbed.
While the resident was getting his phone to call police, his wife was checking outside to see if she could see anyone, the court documents state. He went outside and saw his vehicle was running and his wife was struggling with a woman. The wife reportedly told police she saw the woman in the driver’s seat, rifling through the center console, and struggled with her to get her out of the vehicle, pushing her to the ground nearby. The husband reported he handed the phone to his wife and held down the suspect until police arrived. The couple said the money came from the wife’s purse.
In arguing for bail to be set at $20,000 — $10,000 for each docket — Assistant District Attorney Ryan Scott said Dubois has 11 failures to appear in court over the past few years.
“Your honor, these are very serious charges that she is facing,” Scott told Rooney.
Shea argued that Dubois has “never done more than a day or two in jail” and had successfully completed eight years of probation before she relapsed on drugs. He said his client has been receiving treatment in jail.
Dubois is due back in court on April 14.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.