How this headline may connect to industries in Vermont. Technical scores are below — click any ? for what a metric means.
Dealer in USDC for drugs, now facing kidnap and other state charges.A Windham County man, arrested on federal drug and gun charges last week, is now also facing serious state charges, including a possible life sentence when a state prosecutor filed abduction and assault charges against him, records show.Joshua P.Bedard, 38, is now charged in Vermont Superior Court in Brattleboro with felony counts of kidnapping in May, which has a maximum life sentence and aggravated domestic assault in April, which has a maximum 15-year sentence.He also faces a misdemeanor count of domestic assault on May 4 – which carries a maximum 18-month penalty.Bedard, who police said also has a listed Waterbury address, was due to have a detention motion heard on Friday in U.S.District Court in Burlington on his federal charges, but his defense lawyer pulled the plug on that hearing.He had been arrested on federal charges of distribution of both powder cocaine and crack cocaine and for using a gun during a major drug trafficking business in southeastern Vermont, court records show.While his main focus was in Windham County, his business operated as far north as the White River Junction region, records noted.Instead, Judge Jennifer Barrett has ordered Bedard held without bail after Windham County State’s Attorney Steven M.Brown filed the three new charges against him.Brown charged Bedard, who uses the street name “Shizaam," with restraining a woman with the intent to inflict bodily injury or to place her in fear of bodily injury, court papers note.The woman reported Bedard would keep four handguns on himself or in his car at all times, Brattleboro Police said in a court affidavit.She said she was scared of Bedard because he is a “loose cannon.” Brattleboro Police said the woman reported in one incident that she got into Bedard’s car at the Burger King on Canal Street and he grabbed her by the back of the neck and said something like “you are being kidnapped,” court papers note.The woman claimed Bedard took her phone away and that he drove his white Mazda SUV at 117 miles per hour to Rockingham, Officer Cody Evans said in a court affidavit.The woman said she was in fear for her life and was in his car against her will, police said.She said Bedard made a comment along the lines of “you know what happened to the other guy,” Evans wrote.In a separate incident, Brattleboro Police said the woman reported Bedard became upset after the Vermont State Police had executed a search warrant at an apartment at 296 South Main St.on April 14, record show.Officer Evans said the woman reported Bedard grabbed her throat with one of his hands and backed her up against a wall.She reported she hit her head on the wall and he continued to apply pressure to her throat for one to two minutes, Evans said in a court affidavit.She reported Bedard eventually let go of her and called her improper names multiple times in front of several people, but they were afraid to stop him, Evans wrote.One witness later confirmed the report to police, Evans said.The witness reported that once Bedard released the grip on the woman, he ordered her to go sit in a corner and face the wall and not to look around, Evans said in the affidavit.The victim said she rated the pain and Bedard’s grasp both as sevens, based on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being the worst, Evans said.The third charge stems from a May 4 incident at the Holiday Inn Express on Chickering Drive, police said.The inn staff determined she had smoked a cigarette inside the hotel room where she and Bedard were staying, police said.Bedard became angry and they started to argue when he reportedly backhanded the woman across the face and swore at her, Evans wrote.She rated the pain as an 8 on a 1 to 10 scale and left her with a small bruise, police said.The woman reported Bedard drove her to Westminster and dropped her off at a friend’s house as punishment, Evans said.She reported Bedard dropped her off at random places as punishment when she was in “trouble,” Evans noted.She also reported that there were other incidents, including when she was pistol-whipped when she nodded off at a friend’s house in Charlestown, NH in December, police said.When questioned about pictures of any of the recent incidents, the woman said she had none, but displayed a picture on her phone showing red marks on her neck from an incident that she said happened in Massachusetts, police said.Bedard's criminal record includes convictions for aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, burglary into an occupied dwelling and cocaine sale, records show.After his arrest last week, Bedard told investigators that his recent drug sales had increased in the past month to a daily sale of a kilogram (2.2 pounds) combined for crack and powder cocaine, a court affidavit said.Before that time Bedard said he was selling about 18 ounces a day, records noted.He was found with more than 14 ounces of cocaine and a revolver with a live round and three spent shell casings, records show.State court records show Bedard received a 9-year prison sentence for badly beating a Lowell man suspected of helping police in 2017 in Orleans County.Bedard admitted to aggravated assault and unlawful restraint with a risk of injury.As part of a plea deal, Orleans County prosecutors dropped felony charges of kidnapping with injury and attempted first-degree murder on Nov.12, 2017, records show.After he got out of federal prison, he applied for a state driver’s license and had a Waterbury address, court records show.After his arrest last week, Bedard admitted he had started dealing drugs in June 2025, about a month after he got out of federal prison, court papers show.He also maintained he carried a firearm for personal protection, court records noted.He was caught on video with a gun during a recorded drug deal and the firearm matched the gun found in his car when he was arrested last week, records show.Also arrested in a car with him on a state warrant was a local woman, Koree S.Hudgins, 31, police said.She was wanted on two counts of resisting arrest, two counts of unlawful trespass, and one count each of impeding police and cocaine sale, jail records show.The Vermont Drug Task Force and the FBI began an investigation into another suspected drug dealer in 2025, but eventually Bedard became part of the focus, a federal court affidavit said.The Vermont Drug Task Force eventually set up a buy of crack cocaine from Bedard in mid-April.The sale eventually was conducted at the Travelodge on Putney Road in Brattleboro, records show.The task force planned a second buy and it was set up the same way, except it was conducted in Guilford, records show.This time the purchase was for 31 grams of crack cocaine and 26 grams of powder cocaine, a court affidavit said.