Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer appears at his arraignment in Rutland County Superior criminal court in Rutland on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger RUTLAND — Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer has pleaded not guilty to several criminal charges accusing him of sex ual misconduct and stalking. Palmer’s arraignment Wednesday afternoon in Rutland County Superior criminal court came a day after Vermont State Police announced they had summoned him to court to face charges following a monthslong investigation that began as a probe into department finances. Police released few specific details Tuesday about the allegations leading to the criminal charges against Palmer, 39, of Windsor. However, a police affidavit that became public following the Wednesday arraignment provided more information. The accusations against Palmer came from three women involved in incidents from September 2024 through last year. The women reported to police that Palmer paid them to watch him perform a sex act online or in person and that he later stalked two of them by repeatedly driving by them while in his cruiser after they ended contact with him, including blocking him from phone or social media accounts, the affidavit stated. The filing included images reportedly showing Palmer in his cruiser at locations where the two women were present, including a parking lot where one of the women worked. The filing also contained images of online message exchanges reportedly between the women and Palmer, as well as images from accounts showing payments to them from Palmer. One of the women told police that after Palmer paid her $100 to watch him perform a sex act, she told him that he just “broke the law,” the affidavit stated. The woman then said Palmer replied to her, “So did you,” according to the filing. Palmer, through his attorney Dan Sedon, entered not guilty pleas Wednesday to seven charges, including lewd and lascivious conduct, two counts of soliciting prostitution, two counts of aggravated stalking with a deadly weapon and two counts of obstructing justice. Judge Cortland Corsones did not find probable cause for four other charges prosecutors sought to file against Palmer, including two counts of compounding a felony and two counts of making  false claims. Bennington County Deputy State’s Attorney Jared Bianchi said during Wednesday’s arraignment that he would look to fix paperwork in connection with those four charges and try to refile them.  The prosecution is being handled by the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office to prevent a conflict with having the Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Office prosecuting a law enforcement official it works with.  Corsones did not set bail for Palmer. Instead, the judge imposed several conditions on him while the case remains pending, including prohibiting Palmer from contacting certain witnesses as well as preventing him from possessing a firearm. Bianchi had requested a condition calling on Palmer to surrender his law enforcement certification while the case remained pending. Corsones said he didn’t believe he had the authority to impose that condition on the elected sheriff of Windsor County. Palmer, speaking to reporters after the hearing, maintained his innocence and said he would not be resigning from his sheriff’s post. Palmer did say he would “step back” from overseeing the day-to-day operations of the law enforcement agency, handing those duties off to department member Claude Weyant, who is also the elected Windsor County high bailiff. “There is a lot more to this story,” Palmer said. “That aside, this is my personal life, things I’ve done in my personal life, and I just ask the people out there not to have that reflect on their views of the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department.”   Palmer, a Democrat, was elected to a four-year term as sheriff in 2022 and is up for re-election in November. Prior to his election, Palmer served with the Windsor Police Department and in 2017 was acquitted following a jury trial on charges including aggravated assault with a deadly stemming from shooting a man during a 2014 undercover operation, the Valley News reported at that time. Sedon, Palmer’s attorney, said it was “telling” that none of the pending charges against his client involved allegations of financial misconduct, which initially prompted the state police investigation.   “At the end of the day, we’re confident that any allegation here concerns private consensual behavior between consenting adults.” Sedon said. “As lurid as these allegations may be, they are his private life and don’t reflect his service as the sheriff.”   Vermont sheriffs’ departments across the state have drawn scrutiny in recent years after some were charged with criminal offenses but remained on the job. State lawmakers have proposed reforms seeking greater oversight, but since sheriffs are independently elected, they are answerable to the voters who put them there.  If convicted of all five felony and two misdemeanor charges, Palmer faces up to 27 years in prison. Read the story on VTDigger here: Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer denies sexual misconduct charges, says he won’t resign. ...read more read less