A judge has extended a temporary order against stalking to prevent a critic of Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak from physically approaching her.
The October 15 ruling bars Aryeh “Ari” Moskowitz from coming within six feet of Mulvaney-Stanak until June 2027. Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Colin Owyang determined that Moskowitz had “threatened or made threats” against the mayor.
The initial stalking order was issued in June, around the time Moskowitz was charged with criminal stalking and aggravated disorderly conduct over a series of attempts to engage with Mulvaney-Stanak.
Following arraignment on those charges, Moskowitz was released on the condition that he not contact the mayor or come near her home, car or place of employment. Since early June, he has also been subject to a trespass order barring him from City Hall for 180 days.
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George recused herself from prosecuting the case on the grounds that she had also been contacted by Moskowitz and may be called as a witness in the case. Franklin County State’s Attorney Bram Kranichfeld, who was running against George in the Democratic primary election at the time, was initially tapped to prosecute it. But he recused himself as well. Moskowitz had a history of criticizing George and supporting Kranichfeld’s effort to unseat her.
Lamoille County State’s Attorney Aliena Gerhard will now prosecute the case instead.
Moskowitz has been a vocal critic of the city’s policies around homelessness and drug use. On his Instagram account, which has since been removed from the platform, Moskowitz would post videos of people living on Burlington’s streets. He’d also decry the state of the city’s downtown and criticize Mulvaney-Stanak. He frequently attended Burlington City Council meetings before he was legally prohibited from entering city hall.
In court filings, Mulvaney-Stanak said she first became aware of Moskowitz in early 2025. At the time, he tried to contact her about his concerns regarding an online interaction he’d had with an employee of Chocolate Thunder, the city’s contracted security guards, over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Judge Owyang reviewed two run-ins involving the mayor and Moskowitz to determine whether or not to extend the temporary order against stalking. These incidents are also part of the criminal case.
In the first, Mulvaney-Stanak said she feared for her safety when Moskowitz tried to approach her at a January neighborhood meeting on Pine Street. The mayor recounted having to ask someone escort her to her vehicle.
In June, the mayor said she so feared being accosted by Moskowitz that she fled from him and hid in the bathroom of a downtown restaurant. Moskowitz tried to pursue her but was asked to leave by the restaurant’s owner. The mayor was eventually escorted back to city hall by Chocolate Thunder security guards after she broke down in tears.
Owyang noted in his decision that the neighbor who escorted Mulvaney-Stanak out of the January meeting corroborated her account of “feeling threatened.” Penny Powers, the mayor’s chief of staff, testified she was concerned enough by Moskowitz’s behavior at the restaurant that she advised Mulvaney-Stanak to remain in the locked bathroom.
After leaving the restaurant, Moskowitz ran into interim Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke and told the chief about what had happened. Burke described being concerned by Moskowitz’s “sinister laugh” and told him that his actions “potentially crossed a line into criminality” by making the mayor afraid.
Taken together, Owyang wrote, the testimony from Powers and Burke established that Moskowitz “actually knew and should have known that his conduct” put Mulvaney-Stanak “in fear for her safety.”
Owyang found Mulvaney-Stanak’s testimony to be “credible” while Moskowitz’s was “varied.” At times, he presented as a “calm, thoughtful and engaged citizen,” the judge wrote in his ruling, but became “agitated and argumentative” at other times, particularly during cross examination.
In a statement issued after the October 10 hearing on the case had concluded, Mulvaney-Stanak accused Moskowitz of targeting her because she is a woman. It was “no coincidence,” she said, that women specifically are increasingly the targets of “political attack” across the country.
“No political figure should ever have to experience this as the price for public service,” she declared. “And I stand here today to say enough is enough.”
After Moskowtiz was charged in June, his attorney, Robert Kaplan, described his client as a “passionate constituent wanting to speak with an elected representative, in this case the mayor of Burlington.” Kaplan on Friday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an online fundraiser he started for pay for his legal defense, Moskowitz connected the charges to his Jewish identity, support for Israel and his attempts to document the state of downtown Burlington. As of Friday, he’d raised nearly $8,000.
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