Federal judge issues identity theft sentence for man who stole vehicles & camped at empty Waterbury armory

February 14, 2025  |  By Mike Donoghue  |  Correspondent 

BURLINGTON – A well-traveled man who hunkered down at the then-empty Waterbury armory a little over a year ago after swiping three cars – including a U.S. Forest Service vehicle from Manchester – has been sentenced in federal court to two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.

Andrew T. Chaves, 25, who grew up in Hardwick, also used stolen credit cards to make his way around the Northeast in stolen government vehicles, federal court records show. His crime spree began to unravel when he and a stolen vehicle were traced to the Waterbury area.

Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss said the 24-month prison term would be consecutive to any state sentences imposed in three other jurisdictions, including Lamoille County.

Chaves also has charges pending in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Owyang said in court papers.

Reiss told Chaves, most recently of Washington, D.C., that he would be on federally supervised release for one year once he is discharged from any prison terms.

Reiss also ordered Chaves to pay $25,246 in restitution to his victims, including those in Bennington County and the U.S. government.

Chaves pleaded guilty on July 1, 2024, to knowingly possessing and using a false identity between Dec. 23, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2024, while committing felonies — theft and retention of public property. The government agreed to drop four other felony charges at sentencing.

Chaves’ crimes included stealing a government-owned 2018 Jeep Compass from the U.S. Forest Service in Manchester on Dec. 29, 2023, with the intent to conceal and retain the vehicle.

He also stole a 2018 Ford Fusion on Nov. 17, 2023, from a U.S. Army Facility in Lodi, New Jersey, records show. Chaves drove the vehicle around the northeast, including in Vermont until Jan. 19, 2024.

Records also show Chaves converted to his own use a 2021 Chrysler Voyager owned by the U.S. General Services Administration in Pennsylvania between Nov. 8 and Nov. 17, 2023, records again show.

In early January 2024, investigators caught up with Chaves, tracking the stolen Jeep to the then-unused former Vermont National Guard Armory in Waterbury over several days.

U.S. Deputy Marshals in Vermont learned Chaves was going to be at the Sugarbush Ski Area in January 2024. Deputy marshals, state police, Homeland Security Investigations special agents, and forest service personnel went to Sugarbush looking for Chaves and took him into custody. Chaves also had possession of the stolen 2018 Ford, officials said.

Chaves drove the stolen white Jeep throughout Vermont and was traced through security video or GPS data to several stops, including a Cumberland Farms on South Main Street in Rutland, a Walmart at the Berlin Mall, a gasoline station in Warren, and, for extended stops, at the armory in Waterbury, according to court documents. It was about a month later when the state began renovations at the armory to prepare it to be used as a homeless shelter. 

The records also showed Chaves traveled to New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Chaves also reportedly stole a U.S. Department of Agriculture credit card while in Conway, New Hampshire, and used it later to buy a ski lift ticket at Jay Peak Resort, records show.

When the Jeep was recovered in Waterbury on Jan. 4, 2024, it had license plates that were assigned to a 2018 Ford Fusion owned by the U.S. General Services Administration and allocated to the U.S. Army, according to court records. The Ford had been reported stolen from a recruiting station in Lodi, New Jersey, on Nov. 17, 2023. 

Authorities also said they recovered in Lodi an Army minivan that had been reported stolen from a military facility in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, and that it contained a fingerprint from Chaves, court records show.

The Ford was believed to be the same vehicle captured on a video in St. Johnsbury on Dec. 24, 2023, when a man matching Chaves' description stopped to buy fuel, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

The Marshals Service in Burlington determined Chaves was in Vermont in January 2024 and there was a pending arrest warrant seeking his extradition for being a fugitive from a Washington, D.C. case, records show. In that case, he stole a National Park Service vehicle, donned Park Service clothing, and falsely told law enforcement that he worked for the service, according to court records.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Owyang said in his detention motion that Chaves was arrested due to multiple warrants, but that he later failed to appear in court. The U.S. Forest Service in Vermont also was trying to locate him for its Manchester theft case.

Chaves has a prior felony conviction for receiving stolen property from Somerset County, New Jersey, as well as felony convictions in 2021 and 2023 for unlisted crimes in Virginia, court papers noted. Other court records note he has convictions for burglary, grand larceny of a firearm, and unlawful entry/use of motor vehicles.

Patrol Capt. Christopher J. Denton from the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations Division said Chaves set up a private encampment inside the closed armory in Waterbury for several days after the theft of the Jeep in Manchester.

The Jeep with government license plates and a two-way radio had been inside a U.S. Forest Service building in Manchester indicating “Authorized Access Only,” records show. There were conflicting federal reports on whether the garage was locked.

The theft was reported to Manchester Police, and soon other state and federal law enforcement agencies were involved in a wide-ranging investigation that crossed state lines. As a result, the decision was made for the prosecution to happen in federal court, not state court.

The Jeep, which was valued at $15,000, was last seen on Dec. 27, 2023, and it was reported missing on Jan. 3, 2024, Denton said.

GPS data showed the Jeep had been on Armory Drive in Waterbury on Jan. 2, 2024, and an updated report two days later showed it was still at the armory. When Denton along with state police went there to collect evidence they found several receipts and a pill bottle with the name of Andrew Chaves and an address on Vermont Route 16 in East Hardwick, Denton said. The license plates on the Jeep were not assigned, but investigators found other license plates.

Two license plates found at the armory were reported stolen from the White Mountain National Forest Headquarters in New Hampshire in December 2023 and troopers located several other GPS devices with tags from the Manchester Ranger District, Denton said.

At the armory, the investigators found an inflatable air mattress, space heater, food and various receipts for purchases.

Denton analyzed the receipts to trace the path of the Jeep, which stopped at a Cumberland Farms store on South Main Street in Rutland shortly after being taken from Manchester, records show. Video from the store showed the driver of the Jeep after a small purchase at about 2:42 a.m. on Dec. 29.

Denton said he found a Facebook account for Chaves with a picture posted there on Dec. 30, 2023, showing Graves in the same clothes as what he was wearing when he entered the Rutland store.

Vermont State Police did a further examination of the Facebook profile and determined the picture was taken at Mohawk State Park in Litchfield, Connecticut, where the Jeep remained on Dec. 30-31, 2023 for at least 21 hours, according to court records.

Meanwhile, during December and January 2024, Chaves burglarized and stole from multiple commercial businesses in Vermont, including the theft of credit cards and gift cards, Owyang wrote in court papers.

Vermont State Police had Chaves under investigation for criminal complaints including a burglary at the offices at the Smugglers' Notch Resort in Cambridge at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 2. State Trooper Clay Knight provided three security video clips from the break-in that show a small man in a Carhartt hoodie rummaging through the offices as he held up his cellphone with the flashlight turned on.

Security staff at Smugglers' Notch Resort disrupted the burglary. In a security video, the suspect is seen fleeing in a vehicle resembling the Army Ford, Deputy Marshal Kevin McConkey said in a court affidavit.

Court records show Chaves was born Thong Hoang Nguyen in Soc Trang, Vietnam, and grew up in poverty. He was stabbed in the eye during a street fight and while recovering he was put into foster care and came to Vermont at age 9, records show.

He was one of 12 adopted children for Earnest Chaves, a pastor and mental health worker, and his wife Ruth, who worked at a nonprofit helping special needs children, records note. He eventually graduated from Hazen Union High School in Hardwick in 2017, where he was an honor student and participated in soccer and track.

Chaves had turned to drugs, initially marijuana, ecstasy and opioids, records show. He later added methamphetamine after his mother's death in 2022.

Police said when Chaves was arrested that he had been known to them for incidents in several towns across Vermont since at least 2016. 

Owyang said Chaves had a 3.35 grade point average at Hazen and went on to get an associate degree in computer software engineering. Chaves had productive employment until he was caught stealing from one of his employers, Owyang detailed in court papers. Records include a statement from Chaves saying he turned to a life of crime because he was bored.