VT Man Tied to Death of ‘Whitey’

By Mike Donoghue
RUTLAND HERALD CORRESPONDENT
A former Montpelier man is one of three people charged this week in connection with the beating death of reputed South Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger while in a federal prison in West Virginia nearly four years ago.

Sean McKinnon, now 36, appears to have served as a lookout and conspired with two other suspects as they fatally beat Bulger while he was in a wheelchair in his cell on Oct. 30, 2018, officials said. McKinnon also is charged with providing false information to two federal agents about the case at the U.S. Penitentiary–Hazelton.

The indictment charges McKinnon provided three false statements:

— He said he was unaware of what happened to Bulger.

— While speaking to the two inmates accused with the fatal beating that McKinnon never talked about Bulger.

— McKinnon claimed he knew nothing about the death when he was aware the two inmates had assaulted and killed the mobster.

McKinnon was at Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, due to an eight-year sentence imposed in federal court in Vermont in January 2016 for the theft of 12 handguns from R&L Archery in Barre.

The guns were stolen during an overnight burglary March 15, 2015, by McKinnon and his girlfriend, Kristina Shwab, 37, federal court records and police indicated.

Judge William K. Sessions III sentenced McKinnon to 96 months in prison with credit for time served. Sessions said the time would run concurrent to any state sentence imposed for a litany of charges he was facing in Vermont Superior Court, records show. Sessions also ordered $3,790 in restitution for the stolen guns.

McKinnon, who finished his prison term earlier this year, was under federal supervised release and living in Ocala, Florida, officials said. Sessions had ordered three years of federal supervised release after his discharge from prison.

McKinnon is due for a federal court hearing in Florida on Monday. He was arrested in Ocala and lodged at the Marion County Jail on Thursday.

Barre City Deputy Police Chief Larry Eastman, who was a detective when investigating the gun theft case in 2015, expressed surprise when told by The Times Argus about McKinnon’s possible involvement in the high-profile death of Bulger.

Fotios “Freddy” Geas, 55, a Mafia enforcer from West Springfield, Massachusetts, and Paul “Pauly” DeCologero, 48, of Lowell, Massachusetts, are charged with the actual killing of Bulger in the five-count indictment, officials said. Prison video showed them entering Bulger’s cell the morning after he was transferred to the prison. Bulger, 89, was found dead about two hours later.

Geas and DeCologero are accused of hitting Bulger in the head multiple times with a padlock in a sock.

Bulger was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List for most of the 16 years he was on the run. Bulger was eventually sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for killing 11 people as part of his mob business, records show. Bulger was eventually publicly identified as a confidential informant for the FBI.

The dozen .22-caliber handguns stolen in Vermont were traded in Hartford, Connecticut, for heroin and cocaine within a day of the burglary, Barre City Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reported. A subsequent court-ordered search on March 17, 2015, at the McKinnon/Shwab apartment in Montpelier uncovered a 20-gauge shotgun, records show.

Besides the gun theft, the federal grand jury indicted McKinnon on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon for having the shotgun.

Then-assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin J. Doyle in Burlington noted in his detention motion that McKinnon had 10 burglary charges pending in state court, including the forced entry at R&L Archery. Doyle in asking for federal detention told then-Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy that the defendant also faced state charges of false pretenses, cocaine possession and petty larceny.

Doyle told Conroy that jail officials also reported McKinnon had a history of disciplinary issues, specifically his non-compliance with rules, regulations and officer instructions.

During the apartment search the ATF and the Barre City and Montpelier Police found a sales tag from one of the stolen handguns from the store, 45 bags of heroin in a wallet owned by McKinnon’s girlfriend, Shwab, a digital scale, three pry bars and a number of clothing articles that matched those of the gun store burglary suspects, ATF Special Agent Tam Vieth said in court papers.

Investigators recovered the 20-gauge shotgun from the apartment, the ATF said. McKinnon was prohibited from possessing any firearm because of his criminal record, which included a felony conviction for assault and robbery with a weapon in October 2007, Vieth wrote.

McKinnon admitted he stole a blue Jeep Grand Cherokee from Central Vermont Auto Sales in Montpelier and he and his girlfriend drove to Barre for the gun store burglary, Vieth said.

McKinnon reported they later drove to Connecticut to trade the guns for 150 bags of heroin and five “eight balls” of cocaine, Vieth said. The veteran agent reported McKinnon said he had traded guns for drugs on earlier dates with the same individual.

Eastman, while serving as a Barre detective, had obtained a search warrant for the McKinnon/Shwab apartment to look for the dozen guns after getting some leads in the case, records show.

Eastman told Judge Kevin Griffin that police also would be looking for clothes, including a red hooded sweatshirt with writing, a winter coat, dark ball cap with an emblem, and for sneakers that left a certain imprint in the snow at the crime scene. Eastman wrote investigators were also seeking a woman’s dark jacket and any pry bars.

Eastman said Barre City Police also received a complaint about a burglary at Routhier Auto Sales in Barre, with $50 to $60 stolen, along with two motor vehicle inspection stickers. He said video indicated the break-in the same night appeared to have the same vehicle and suspects from the gun store burglary.

Another merchant on Circle Street in Barre called city police on March 15 to report a dark blue Jeep Grand Cherokee was parked in front of his business with the keys in it, Eastman said. It was the stolen vehicle and police had it towed. The security video at the business showed a man and woman had earlier run from the scene and both appeared to match the wanted suspects, police said.

Eastman found some other clues, including a receipt in the Jeep from a Dollar General in Hartford, Connecticut, for 1:30 p.m. March 15, 2015. Video footage from the Dollar General showed a male customer that matched the man in the Washington County cases, Eastman wrote.

ATF Special Agent Ben Cohen, in speaking to Montpelier Police, learned of an early morning disturbance about 3:40 a.m. March 15, 2015 involving McKinnon and Shwab at their Main Street apartment, Eastman said in court papers.

Montpelier Police Sgt. Richard Cleveland reported he could overhear McKinnon arguing with his girlfriend and said he just got back from Connecticut and he had “risked his ass for $1,200,” court records note. Cleveland said he could hear McKinnon and Shwab counting money, Eastman wrote.

Cleveland said he also heard McKinnon telling somebody that she can keep her heroin and then mentioned getting his gun, court papers note. Cleveland then announced the police presence and knocked on the door in the hallway. Once inside he spotted clothes that matched those worn by the two suspects, Eastman said.

Police said at the time Shwab was arrested for multiple counts of burglary and possession of heroin. The outcome of those cases could not be determined Saturday.

Sessions during the federal sentencing in Vermont had said he “strenuously recommends that the defendant actively participate in vocational training prior to release and that he be placed at either FPC Alderson, WV or FCI McDowell WV,” court records note.

He also was recommended for a 500-hour drug and alcohol rehabilitation program or the non-residential drug and alcohol treatment program.

It was unclear which of those items that McKinnon undertook.