On 12/14/2015 at approximately 1927 hours a Burlington Police Officer was flagged down by a pedestrian in the area of City Hall Park on Main St. who reported a stabbing. Officers soon found the victim, Perry Thornley, suffering from two stab wounds to his torso. Thornley advised that he was stabbed by another transient male whom he had a dispute with over the area in which Thornley was successfully panhandling.
Thornley was transported to UVMMC and treated for non life-threatening injuries sustained during the stabbing. The Burlington Police Detective Bureau assumed the investigation and identified the male responsible for the stabbing. Jason Ploof, 31 years of age and a transient of Burlington, was arrested this afternoon and charged with the crime of Aggravated Assault. Ploof is being held by the Department of Corrections for lack of $25,000 bail and will be arraigned in Superior Court on 12/16/2015.
Ploof has an extensive criminal history in the State of Vermont which includes: three felony arrests resulting in two felony convictions and twenty misdemeanor arrests resulting in eleven misdemeanor convictions, for a total of thirteen prior criminal convictions. Ploof was under supervision with the Vermont Department of Corrections, specifically on probation at the time of his most recent arrest.
