Police chase multi-vehicle thief through three counties

This week, he was also charged with federal crimes.

According to a Burlington Police Department affidavit, on Aug. 30, police encountered Edson on Riverside Avenue in Burlington after responding there for an unrelated call. Police say Edson, who was a suspect in an Aug. 24 armed robbery at Sierra Trading Post in Burlington, sped off, wrenching one officer’s hand from the door handle and coming within an inch of hitting another officer on the head.

Shortly after, an anonymous caller reported seeing Edson’s vehicle parked off North Avenue. According to the affidavit, when officers arrived, Edson brandished a firearm and took off running.

An hour and a half later, a different caller reported a man matching Edson’s description had stolen a motorboat on Lake Champlain. Police say they later learned Edson had first stolen a surfboard and used it to paddle out to the motorboat.

Police say he couldn’t get the motor started, so he jumped overboard and swam to a nearby sailboat, and police watched from shore as Edson unfurled the sails and raised anchor.

The U.S. Coast Guard radioed to say they would try and board the sailboat and, if they were unable to do that because Edson was armed, they would try to create a wake and capsize the boat. Before that could happen, though, police say Edson ran the sailboat into the rocks near Rock Point, and again fled on foot.

A few days later, Edson resurfaced in Lamoille County.

On Sept. 5, a Wolcott resident on Elmore Pond Road said a man, later identified as Edson, had been on her property all day working on a roadside pickup truck and then he stole a dirt bike and bag full of tools and tried to speed off.

A different resident ran Edson down and made him return the bike and bag and said Edson told him he needed the bike to help his wife. However, when a deputy showed up, Edson fled on foot into the woods. The man told police Edson said his name was Steven Wilson and he wanted to purchase the pickup truck.

According to police, further investigation showed that Edson had arrived in a red pickup truck that he then sold to a different Wolcott resident for $1,500. That red truck had been reported stolen by Rutland Police Department. Police say Edson used the name of the red truck’s owner when he was selling the stolen truck for the $1,500 in cash.

About an hour later, according to police, another Wolcott resident reported his white Chevy pickup truck had been stolen from his driveway. The owner told police the keys had been left in the truck.

As a deputy responded, he saw the stolen truck drive past him on Route 15 and gave chase, as did Morristown police. However, they all gave up the chase after Edson allegedly sped through numerous residential neighborhoods. Police say he also drove through a school parking lot, almost hitting two children.

The truck was later found ditched at a different home on McKearney Road, just off School Street in Wolcott.

Edson — who was already well known from various photos of him circulating on television news and social media — was spotted by a witness running toward the Wolcott fire station. Police say the pickup truck sustained about $1,000 in damages during the chase.

According to various news outlets, Edson would later steal a Wolcott town dump truck as he made his way west, ultimately stealing a kayak and paddling it down the Lamoille River in Georgia, before ditching it and running away on foot, where police finally apprehended him.

Burlington police say Edson’s most recent crime spree started with an Aug. 24 armed robbery at the Sierra Trading Post in Burlington, when he allegedly stuffed a bunch of merchandise into a backpack, pulled a gun on an employee and threatened to “blow (his) head off.”

Edson is no stranger to Lamoille County law enforcement. Last year, he was convicted of grand larceny and eluding police after stealing a trailer and leading police on a wild backroad chase through numerous Lamoille County towns. He was ordered to serve a minimum of seven years, but that sentence was reduced to 17 months in prison, with an eight-year probation upon his release.

According to an affidavit by the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department, Edson “should be considered a habitual offender” and his criminal record shows 41 felony convictions dating back to 1988.