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Man held in teen sex for drugs case



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By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: May 7, 2009

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A judge ordered a Springfield man to be held without bail Wednesday on charges he tried to entice an underage girl to trade sex for drugs.

Thomas Y. Pellerin, whose age is documented in records as either 58 or 59, pleaded innocent in White River Junction District Court, to accusations of making false claims and charges of lewd and lascivious conduct and dispensing drugs to minors; as well as misdemeanor charges of giving alcohol to minors and contributing to the delinquency of minors.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 24 years in prison, but Pellerin is facing the possibility of life in prison because of his criminal history, which include a sexual assault conviction in 1994, lewd and lascivious conduct with a child in 1990, and two convictions for attempted statutory rape in 1973 and 1977.

Pellerin is listed on the Vermont Sex Offender Registry as a noncompliant sex offender, and Windsor County State's Attorney Robert Sand said Pellerin was also convicted of a sex offense in New Hampshire, where he is listed as a dangerous sex offender.

According to a police affidavit and six sworn affidavits from the alleged victim and alleged witnesses, on Feb. 8, a 16-year-old girl went to Pellerin's Mineral Street residence because a friend had invited her over.

According to the girl's affidavit, the previous day, Pellerin had told her he was friends with doctors who wanted to trade marijuana and prescription pills in exchange for sex with females between 16 and 21 years old.

Pellerin allegedly showed her letters from a doctor and a contract for her sign agreeing to keep the whole thing a secret, affidavits state, as well as instructions for Pellerin to "find out just how good she is and what she'll do."

While alone in an upstairs room, records state, Pellerin allegedly forced the girl to remove her clothes so he could take photos of her with his cell phone to show to the doctors. The girl said Pellerin yelled at her and forcibly removed some of her clothing when she refused to comply, according to her affidavit.

There does not appear to have been any sexual contact between Pellerin and the girl, according to affidavits.

The girl contacted Springfield Police the same day, and Feb. 10 police searched Pellerin's residence and seized his cell phone, which contained nude images, as well as notes from the doctors which Pellerin reportedly told police he wrote. There do not appear to be any doctors involved.

Police also found a contract Pellerin appears to have written for minors making them promise to not discuss the alcohol and drugs they consumed at his residence, but police have affidavits from several teens who claim to have done exactly that.

Pellerin is being held in Springfield Prison.

josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com








READER COMMENTS


This piece of dog crap maxed out on his last prison stint just so he would not be supervised and I KNEW that he would re-offend and STILL the state of VT lets him get out of prison because it would be against HIS RIGHTS to keep him longer than allowed by law and now AGAIN he has committed sexual crimes against young girls,. so I hope that you the DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS are proud of what you have done, I suppose the guy who sold a joint and maxed out his sentence would still be somewhat supervised and yet, a dangerous sexual offender is allowed to return to hoods full of children .The town of Weathersfield did not want this man coming to their town, but because it would be against his RIGHTS, the town would have had no choice but to allow him to move there and now he lives in Springfield and I will bet a nickel. he has been abusing kids from the minute he got out and the state of VT does not even care. Had he been held at a secure facility for dangerous predators for life after his first time abusing a child instead of getting the ever popular PROBATION for sexually abusing a child, no more children would have been harmed so I ask the state of VT right now, what are you going to do with him now? I see that he is being held without bail, but that means nothing. I truly believe that he should be sent to prison for the rest of his life, my punishment would be more harsh. I would sentence to him to death as I feel if you abuse another child, a two or three time loser, clearly he is beyond redemption and should be riding Old Sparky all the way to hell.
-- Posted by Linda Brown on Sun, May 10, 2009, 3:34 pm EST

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WTF people? How does this story get twisted into SPD bashing? The girl reported a crime, the police responded and the alleged perpetrator was arrested and charged with a crime. I say "Good job, blue!"
-- Posted by David Parmenter on Fri, May 8, 2009, 9:47 am EST

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Springfield's police are rapidly becoming quite a joke. Almost without exception we return to Springfield to find flashing blue lights, usually in The Speed Trap (by the Irving/Circle K). Also, we have made a game of counting how many police we see in other states as we travel. Typically, we see more police in a few miles of Springfield than we see traveling clear across the whole state of New Hampshire. Others have noted this in their travels too.

The moral of this article and my own story: turning your town into a police state does NOT make you safer. Springfield has too many police. This reduces our safety, not improves it. Not to mention the added strain on our taxes.
-- Posted by mark on Thu, May 7, 2009, 10:17 am EST

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Maybe Springfield could send some of those law enforcement people here to Poultney. We definitely need some additional patrols. This town will be just like Springfield soon and law enforcement from there should feel right at home. What I'd like to know is; what are these kids missing at home that they would feel compelled to go to this guys house? I know some of you are thinking, it's the drugs and alcohol but most of these kids probably get that right at home, sad to say but, most likely true.
-- Posted by White Witch on Thu, May 7, 2009, 9:30 am EST

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Ugh- this guy sounds so gross. How in the world does he survive? Hope he loses his job, any state welfare he receives, and just crawls into a hole and dies. Puts me in a bad frame of mind- hopefully, the girl learned that this type of behavior is not the way to live.
-- Posted by Colleen Wright on Thu, May 7, 2009, 8:27 am EST

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But on a serious note Major Taxpayer, it would be nice if Depts. had the luxury to do this. What would be better is if we had the death penalty for people like this, then all the taxpayers would save money in the end. This guy is a untreated sex offender and worthless to society. Hopefully the state will send him out of state to finish his sentence. Hopefully when he is out of state, he will be repeatedly raped in prison.
-- Posted by Stan Unwin on Thu, May 7, 2009, 7:16 am EST

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This speaks well of why Springfield has become such poor town to live and work in. With 16 full time police officers, you would think unless responding to an emergency, a patrolman could be parked outside this convicted child molester's residence. After all, Mineral Street is in the center of town, and aguably this creep posses the greatest threat to child safety in the community.
But, NO! SPD sees fit to have their patrolmen ride aimlessly around town wasting fuel and hassling hard working, law abiding citizens over the most trivial traffic and motor vehicle infractions.
Nothing says "Welcome to Springfield" better then a cop with radar hidden off the main thoroughfare entering town at 5:30 in the morning.
-- Posted by Major Taxpayer on Thu, May 7, 2009, 6:34 am EST

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