Windsor County Sheriff Faces New Sex Crime Charges

Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, 39, is facing a second wave of sex crime charges after more women came forward with misconduct allegations, Vermont State Police announced Thursday.

Palmer, who lives in Windsor, had already entered not guilty pleas in late January on seven counts: lewd and lascivious conduct, two counts of soliciting prostitution, two counts of aggravated stalking with a deadly weapon, and two counts of obstructing justice. Detectives have now filed a fresh affidavit seeking additional charges, including solicitation of prostitution and lewd and lascivious conduct, according to a state police press release.

The new affidavit was submitted to the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office, which is handling the Palmer prosecution. “The charges allege Palmer paid a woman on multiple occasions to participate in sex acts, and that he sent unsolicited sexual material to another woman,” state police said in the release.

Palmer’s next court hearing is scheduled for May 14, at which point he’s expected to be arraigned on the new counts. His attorney, Daniel Sedon, didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The original charges, filed in January, described Palmer paying three women to watch him perform sex acts either in person or online. Two of those women alleged he later stalked them by repeatedly driving past them in his sheriff’s department cruiser after they cut off contact with him. The new affidavit builds on that pattern, suggesting the conduct wasn’t isolated.

The case has already stripped Palmer of his professional standing. Shortly after his January arraignment, the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, the state body that regulates law enforcement certification in Vermont, temporarily revoked his certification. Palmer has said he stepped away from day-to-day duties, and someone else is now running operations at the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department.

The department hasn’t issued any public statement about internal reviews or changes to oversight since Palmer stepped back. That’s a problem. Windsor County sits directly across the Connecticut River from Grafton County, New Hampshire, and the sheriff’s department serves communities throughout the region, including towns that aren’t far from Hanover.

The fact that it’s a sitting sheriff facing these charges, someone with the authority to detain, surveil, and move through communities in a marked cruiser, makes the allegations carry a weight that doesn’t apply to a private citizen in a comparable case. Stalking two women with a department vehicle isn’t a side detail. It’s an allegation that Palmer used the tools of his office to intimidate people who’d ended contact with him. That’s a direct abuse of public trust, not an incidental misconduct claim.

The case originated before 2026. Court records indicate the conduct at issue spans back to at least 2022, and some of the original investigative work was done in 2023. Vermont State Police haven’t said exactly how many additional women came forward as part of the continuing investigation, and it’s not clear whether the new affidavit covers every reported incident or only the ones detectives could corroborate.

VTDigger reported by VTDigger details of the new affidavit earlier this week. The Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office, which took over prosecution to avoid a conflict of interest with local law enforcement, is continuing to manage the case.

Palmer hasn’t publicly addressed the new allegations. Sedon, his attorney, has not commented publicly on the additional charges. The May 14 arraignment will be the next public proceeding in the case.