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Abenaki leader Merrill's exploitation charge dropped
Jun. 15, 2011
Sam Hemingway  The chief of the St. Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenakis in Swanton has been cleared — for now — of a charge alleging that she improperly spent money belonging to a vulnerable man in her care.
April St. Francis Merrill was arraigned in March on charges she’d financially exploited Louis P. Lafrance of Highgate Center. According to court papers, Merrill spent $30,697 between 2008 and 2010 on items that did not benefit Lafrance, also an Abenaki member. Lafrance died in October.
Merrill, 42, of Highgate did not respond to a phone request for comment Wednesday. Her lawyer, Peter Langrock, said Merrill was glad the charge had been dropped. He said Merrill may not have been a perfect bookkeeper, but that she did "not steal a nickel." "Chief April St. Francis Merrill at all times has maintained her innocence and claimed that all monies that came into her control on behalf of Louis Lafrance were spent on his behalf and at his direction," Langrock said. Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes confirmed his office had dropped the charge against Merrill but said he intends to file new, more specific felony charges against her in the Lafrance matter in the near future to resolve a procedural issue raised by Langrock in the original case.
"The defendant filed a motion requesting specificity on all the different acts," Hughes said. "So we’ll be filing at least a dozen charges we feel can be proven."
Hughes said he expected to file those new charges in the next week or two. "They’re coming," Hughes said.
Langrock said he didn’t think Hughes would re-charge Merrill once he studies the facts in more detail.
"I’d be very surprised if he does," Langrock said. "He doesn’t got anything."
According to court papers, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department began investigating Merrill’s handling of Lafrance’s money after Lafrance’s family raised questions about expenditures listed on his bank and credit card records and alerted police.
Among the transactions that came under scrutiny were instances where Merrill withdrew money from Lafrance’s account via an ATM while in Rutland, where Merrill has family, and at the Veterans of Foreign War post in Swanton, where she is a member but Lafrance wasn’t, court documents said.
Other purchases she made occurred while Lafrance was in the hospital or a rehab center. Still others involved things such as buying pizza and paying for a car wash. Lafrance, who lived on Social Security payments, did not own a car.
Langrock said the car wash was for Merrill’s car and was done after Lafrance had become sick while in the car. As for the pizza purchases, Langrock said the food was for Lafrance and his friends. "I don’t think she got a single piece of free pizza out of it," Langrock said.
Merrill became chief of the Sokoki band of the Abenakis following the death of her father, Homer St. Francis, in 2001.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110616/NEWS02/110615038/1007/Abenaki-leader-Merrill-s-exploitation-charge-dropped- |
