Self-Appointed "Border Patrol" Sentenced to a Year in Federal Prison
By Michael Donoghue - Vermont News First
A Newport Center man, who authorities said had three loaded firearms with obliterated serial numbers while claiming to be patrolling the international border, has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison.
Cody M. Myott, 32, had initially denied knowingly possessing the three loaded firearms when his car was stopped by the Orleans County Sheriff's Department on Oct. 29, 2023.
The incident came as Vermont Superior Court Judge Justin Jiron had ordered Myott released back to the community instead of admitting him to an inpatient psychiatric care facility for a mental health evaluation, records show.
Senior Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford told Myott on Wednesday that by adding an extra day to his one-year sentence, he will be eligible for time off for good behavior in prison. That could mean Myott could be out in about 10 months, the judge said.
Crawford told Myott he will be under federal supervised release for three years once he is freed from prison.
Crawford said because Myott won't get credit for the prison time he has been in custody for state charges, the federal court would factor that into the final sentence.
The federal sentencing guidelines had proposed a penalty between 30 and 37 months. Myott has been held on the federal case for 13 months.
Chief Federal Defender Michael Desautels said he considered Myott one of the most courteous and polite people he had represented in 39 years.
He said Myott was not fully aware that his conduct was dangerous and the potential consequences of his actions.
"I was trying to help patrol the borders," Myott told the court as he offered an apology. He said he wants to focus and get a job when he gets out of prison.
"I think you lost your way," said Crawford, noting it appeared to be vigilante conduct along the border.
The prosecution, in asking for the 37-month sentence, maintained the gun case was dangerous conduct in light of his opiate use and drug addiction.
Myott is due in Vermont Superior Court in Newport on Thursday for a status conference on about three dozen state charges.
Orleans County State's Attorney Farzana Leyva has charged Myott with two counts of domestic assault and one count each for aggravated domestic assault, assault and robbery with a weapon, grand larceny, obstruction of justice, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment, unlawful mischief under $250, and aggravated operating without the owner's consent.
Leyva also has tagged on 26 counts of violation of conditions of release that a judge imposed in his cases.
Desautels asked the court to recommend that Myott serve his time at the federal prison in Berlin, N.H.
Desautels said he had heard that the sentenced convicts are not getting to go to Berlin as much as before because the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities are using it to detain illegal immigrants.
The Orleans County Sheriff's Department became suspicious of a Honda Fit driving in Newport less than a mile from the international border on Oct. 29, 2023, records show. The vehicle driving north in the southbound lane on Bear Mountain Road near Farrar Road.
The driver was sticking his head out the window as if he was looking for somebody — a familiar site for those involved in helping with illegal human smuggling, records show.
Orleans Deputy Sheriff Mark Hinton had been trained to be on the watch for possible human and drug smuggling in the area, including on Bear Mountain Road.
The federal case was added in May 2024 and prosecutors asked that Myott be detained because he had a decade-long history of ignoring court orders, records show.
Unlike state court, federal judges in Vermont take a dim view on those that ignore court orders
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives initially named Myott in a criminal complaint on Dec. 4, 2023 with being a convicted felon in illegal possession of the 3 loaded firearms. That felony charge was dropped to make way on May 30 for the one-count indictment for defacing the firearms, records show.
As part of the federal case, Myott agreed to forfeit the three loaded firearms and 25 rounds of assorted ammunition.
The three firearms are a Savage model .30-06 bolt action rifle with a scope, a Winchester .30-30 caliber lever-action rifle and a Springfield Armory .45-caliber pistol, the indictment said.
The sheriff’s department reached out to ATF Special Agent Tam Vieth, who determined the Winchester .30-30 rifle and the Savage Arms bolt-action .30-06 rifle with a mounted scope both lack serial numbers. The areas that would contain the numbers had been filed, removed or obliterated, officials said.
The Springfield .45-caliber semiautomatic also had all of its serial numbers removed, Vieth reported.
Myott was initially charged in state court.
Leyva, the Orleans County prosecutor, and a mental health screener both had recommended to Judge Jiron a full inpatient evaluation because of his behavior, including his claim he was patrolling the international border, records note.
The request came during the Oct. 30 court hearing after a preliminary mental health review of Myott. Judge Jiron denied the joint request for the inpatient evaluation and sent Myott home with conditions.
A few hours later Vermont State Police responded to an aggravated domestic assault complaint on Church Street in Newport Center, records show. State Trooper Ian Alford said the investigation revealed Myott had assaulted a household member – his wife – and that her two children also were victims, court records show.
He was lodged overnight without bail at a Newport prison. He pleaded not guilty to the aggravated domestic assault charge and two misdemeanor counts for domestic assault, records show. This time Judge Jiron agreed Myott should be held without bail on the state charges.
Myott’s criminal history includes a 2014 conviction for felony unlawful trespass into an occupied residence and he initially received a deferred sentence, which would have allowed him to wipe the crime off his record if he stayed out of trouble, but he violated his probation terms.
Myott was re-sentenced in 2018 to 1-to-3 years in prison with all but 30 days suspended and placed on probation, records show.
Federal court records show Hinton had radioed his emergency dispatcher about the car’s registration and soon learned it was expired, the ATF said.
That is when Hinton activated the blue light on his fully marked sheriff’s cruiser, but the Honda Fit did not stop immediately and continued for about a mile before yielding.
Hinton said when he approached the car he saw a lever-action rifle resting against the empty passenger seat with its barrel in the foot area, records show.
When asked for his license or registration papers, Myott said he did not have them. He was asked if the rifle was loaded and Myott responded it was and began to reach for it, but Hinton told him to leave it alone. Hinton radioed for a back-up deputy sheriff.
The U.S. Border Patrol Agents, who were nearby, arrived to provide a safety backup, records show. The two agencies often interact because of the international border being nearby.
Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Cotnoir also soon arrived, and Hinton removed the rifle from the car and away from Myott, officials said. Hinton confirmed it was loaded and then cleared it to make it safe.
After putting it in his sheriff’s cruiser Hinton said he returned to Myott’s car and spotted a second bolt-action hunting rifle in the back seat and determined it was loaded, officials. Hinton said he also placed that firearm into his cruiser after removing the live cartridges.
Once the Border Patrol agents were on scene, the handgun was removed from Myott's holster, records show.
Cotnoir was monitoring Myott when the dispatcher radioed the suspect was “Brady Disqualified” – meaning that a federal database showed the suspect had one or more criminal convictions that made it illegal for him to possess or own any firearms, the ATF said.
The message refers to a gun law named for James Brady, a former press secretary for President Ronald Reagan. Brady became a gun control advocate after he was shot in the head and Reagan wounded during an assassination attempt by John Hinkley in March 1981.