Woman Who Claimed to be Accosted by ICE Cited for False Swearing, Bogus Information
Former director of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Vergennes claimed she was accosted by ICE in Vergennes store; investigation finds it was "pure fiction."
By Michael Donoghue. Vermont News First
MIDDLEBURY — The former director of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Vergennes, who police say falsely claimed under oath she was accosted by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent at a local business, will not be prosecuted for a felony charge of false swearing, officials said.
Alicia Grangent, 49, instead has been given the chance to make a $500 donation to the John Graham Housing Shelter in Vergennes, Addison County State's Attorney Eva P. Vekos told Vermont News First.
Vergennes Police said they had issued Grangent a court citation ordering her to appear in Vermont Superior Court in May on a felony count of false swearing and a misdemeanor charge of providing bogus information to Vergennes Police. The two criminal charges stem from an incident that Grangent claimed happened at Shaw's Supermarket earlier this year involving an ICE agent, police said.
A lengthy investigation revealed Grangent's claim was pure fiction, and no ICE agent was present in the city, Vergennes Police Chief Jason Ouellette said.
That false determination came only after the claims had spread and caused unnecessary problems for both Shaw's and ICE, while also putting some distrust into local community members, including immigrants, the police chief said.
During the 10-week investigation, Grangent made false statements to Chief Ouellette, Detective Harter, Sgt. Mark Barber, Officer Mark Stacey and Administrative Assistant Christina Brace, police said. She also repeated her claims to Special Agent Josh Otey of the Vermont Office for Homeland Security Investigations.
An Addison County state legislator also soon found himself in the middle of the investigation, which included getting two security videos from Shaw’s.
Vekos, the elected county prosecutor, said it is within her discretion how criminal cases are disposed. Vekos said she opted to allow Grangent, who lived in Vergennes, to bypass court and make a donation to a local charity.
Vekos appeared surprised when told by Vermont News First that Grangent was donating to a volunteer board that she has served on since 2022.
"You seem to know more about this then me," she said.
Vekos told Vermont News First she considered several issues in reviewing the case, including Grangent having no known criminal record, her age, and the suspect recently relocated to St. Louis.
Grangent, who had worked at Job Corps in Vergennes, posted recently she was returning to the company in St. Louis as a deputy center director.
The charitable donation is believed to be tax exempt for Grangent's income tax return next year.
Grangent provided the false sworn statement as part of the criminal investigation headed by Vergennes Detective Jill Harter, the police chief said.
Ouellette said Grangent eventually acknowledged during the comprehensive investigation that she fabricated her claims.
“Grangent agreed that based on the surveillance video, it appears the incident did not occur,” Harter wrote in a sworn affidavit.
“She expressed that in her ‘inner core’ she felt as though it had happened. I reiterated to Grangent that it did not occur, and she concurred, stating that in her psyche, she created it,” the detective wrote.
“I asked Grangent if she admitted that her story was untrue. She told me that based on the video, it does not seem she is telling the truth. She said she feels like it happened, but we know it did not, based on the video,” Harter wrote.
Grangent, reached this week by phone by Vermont New First, asked, "Why is it a story?"
When told the nature of her claim against ICE made it news, Grangent asked if she could call back. She never did before deadline.
Her defense attorney Will Vasiliou of Middlebury, who also served on the Graham board with Grangent, later offered a comment, including thanks to Vekos for not prosecuting the case.
"Ms. Grangent has dedicated her life to improving her community throughout her professional career as well as through her personal volunteering efforts. Ms. Grangent's efforts serve as example for us all. In considering Ms. Grangent's dedication to her community as well as the unusual nature of the allegations raised against her, State Attorney Vekos elected not to prosecute the claims against Ms. Grangent,” the defense lawyer said in an email to Vermont News First.
“We commend the State Attorney for adhering to her obligation to do justice," Vasiliou wrote.
Grangent's biography and photo were still on display as a member of the board of directors on the Graham website this week even though she is living almost 1,100 miles away. Her bio notes she had over seven years of experience working in the mental health field including as a Program Manager at the Howard Center in Vermont before taking the Vergennes post.
The website for the Porter Medical Center in Middlebury also listed Grangent this week as a member of its Board of Trustees.
Chief Ouellette said there was considerable concern in the Vergennes region about the initial claim by Grangent because it was spread through social media and scared local migrant workers who shop at Shaw’s and impacted sales at the business itself.
Some social media comments urged Vermonters to issue alerts when ICE was in an area and to possibly try to distract the federal agents when doing their jobs if possible.
Grangent maintained the ICE agent in the dairy aisle was singing only the chorus from “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen when he approached her and asked for her papers.
The Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office participates in a Pre-Charge program that allows criminal cases to be sent to the Addison County Restorative Justice Services office instead of court. Potential defendants in minor cases, often misdemeanors, can avoid criminal charges by completing requirements of the justice program.
However, the listed eligible offenses for the program do not list the felony false swearing, or the misdemeanor count of false information to police.
Vekos takes a pass
Vekos when reaching our recently to Vergennes Police was clear the department might not like her throwing out the case.
“I review (sic) this case and decided not to charge it,” Vekos said in an email to Harter announcing the decision two days before the scheduled court arraignment. A copy was also sent to the police chief.
“But, in recognition of the hard work that you and other officers did in the case, I asked Grangent to give something back to the community, which she did with a $500 donation to the John Graham Shelter. Also, she is now living and working in St. Louis,” the prosecutor wrote.
“I’m sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear, but it is what it is. Happy to talk further if you like,” said Vekos, who has had a rocky relationship with local, county and state police in Addison County.
Vermont News First obtained a copy of the full Vergennes Police investigation through the state public records law. It included more than a 7-page single-spaced sworn affidavit by Harter that outlined all the details and various interviews. There were also 2 ½ pages of supplemental affidavits provided Vekos from other city police officers.
The false swearing charge is a form of perjury and is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, records show.
The bogus information to police charge falls under false alarms and false reports and is punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
As part of the case, Harter provided a line-up with seven photos and Grangent picked out a “suspect,” marked it “yes” and signed it, police said. She said it was the man from Shaw’s.
Grangent had drafted a handwritten statement before a March 15 follow-up with police and when asked if she wanted that to serve as her official police statement, she agreed and swore to its truthfulness, Harter said.
A second subpoena was later issued to Shaw’s to obtain the video of the man behind her in the checkout line. It turned out he was a retired police detective that had served in Chittenden County. The retired officer said he does not converse with people when shopping at the supermarket on Monkton Road and does not sing in public and he had no recollection of conversing with Grangent, police said.
She had said the man was over 5-foot 11 and bulky and the retired detective was 5-foot-6 and not bulky, police said.
A co-worker from the Boys and Girls Club, Branden Rochetti, 31, reported Grangent had told him about an incident at Shaw’s and about getting approached by a man asking for her immigration papers, police said.
Grangent claimed that while picking up some butter at the supermarket a customer walked from the milk section and was singing the chorus to “Born in the USA.” The singing man made some comments about ICE and made it clear it was not the weather condition, but the federal agency being present, police said she reported.
The man eventually asked for her papers, Grangent told police. She told the man she knew her rights and he asked for her identification again, Grangent reported to police.
The exchange continued for a brief period. When she stepped back, he stepped forward, Grangent said. She responded by saying “get the (expletive) out of my face.”
She then challenged him by saying she was going to checkout and if he was going to detain her for whatever reason, now was the time for him to do it, Harter said in a police affidavit.
Grangent said after she returned to work at the Boys and Girls Club, she saw a comment on Facebook about ICE being at Shaw’s. She said she commented on the post, thanking them for the confirmation and saying she had had an interaction with an ICE agent herself, Harter wrote.
Grangent said she also reported the incident to State Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes because he was on the board of the Boys and Girls Club. She said Birong, 48, asked if she had reported it to the police and Grangent maintained she did not know who to report the incident to in Vergennes.
Police told Grangent there was video of the incident, and she said she would love to see it. Grangent confirmed to police her appearance in the video. She said the video did not show the suspect man as close as she thought he had been to her, police said.
She was asked to note on the video when the man started talking to her, but Grangent was unable to pinpoint the spot, even when the video was replayed for her, Harter wrote.
Grangent also said she could not see the woman she claimed was offended by her swearing at the man in the aisle, police said.
“She assured me that she would never make a false report and stated that she would only do so if she truly felt it or experienced something very similar,” Harter wrote. Grangent said that is what sparked her to write her formal statement the following day.
Otey, the HSI criminal investigator in South Burlington, joined in the case and told Grangent it was part of his duties to investigate these types of claims against ICE agents. Grangent, Harter and Otey watched the surveillance video from the store and Grangent repeated her earlier claims and produced her cellphone to show the posting on Facebook and her response, the detective said.
“Special Agent Otey explained that the information she provided was investigated, and there was no credible evidence that ICE officials were in Vergennes on the day she reported the incident. Furthermore, the social media post she responded to was false. He also clarified that this is not how they conduct operations,” Harter wrote.
Grangent thanked Otey for confirming the man was an imposter, Harter said. “Grangent was adamant that the incident did occur and again recalled the events she claimed happened in Shaw’s,” Harter said.
After a lengthy discussion with Otey and Harter about the seriousness of making false allegations against a federal agent, Grangent stated she “was not sure how she even got here” because she remembered what she wrote, the affidavit said.
Grangent was confronted that her claims were false, and she agreed “and told me she was trying to understand what happened…” Harter said.
Grangent repeated that she did not know how she got there and that “had she felt like she was making that up,” she would not be present.
The detective told Grangent that the man in the store was interviewed and he confirmed the video that nothing happened. Harter said she asked Grangent if somebody would have heard the conversation, or if it was just in her head.
Grangent replied it was a weird question and did not answer immediately, police said. She paused before saying she did not know as it appeared, based on the video, that it did not happen, Harter said.
Grangent eventually wrote a second statement to police indicating that the incident never occurred based on the evidence, Harter said.
Birong, the four-term legislator, said after Grangent spoke to him about the incident, he reached out to some of his contacts in Montpelier to determine if ICE was in Vergennes. Birong said other social media posts prompted him to ask more questions and soon learned there was no ICE activity in Vergennes. He provided Vergennes Police a sworn handwritten statement about his involvement.
Grangent first reported the claims to Brace and Officer Stacey at the police department on Jan. 30, two days after the made-up confrontation, police said. Stacey made an initial check with ICE and learned they had nobody in the area on Jan. 28, police said. The complaint was later referred to Harter as the department’s criminal investigator. Ouellette and Barber also did some follow-up with Grangent.
Grangent served as the chief executive officer for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Vergennes from April 2022 until it closed earlier this year.
Her bio says she has over 20 years of experience as a program director working with vulnerable populations to include at-risk youth, disabilities and mental health. She also reported she formerly coached Special Olympics for seven years.
Grangent lists a bachelor’s degree in social work from the now defunct MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill. and a master’s degree in criminal and social justice from Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill.