Plainfield Select Board Appoints Sergeant Tebow as Temporary Police Chief

PLAINFIELD -- January 27, 2026, Plainfield Select Board appoints interim police chief and warns of permit scam that cost an applicant $4,900. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to name Sergeant Tebow as temporary police chief during Chief Litchfield's absence of at least five weeks, with Tebow tasked with officer scheduling, mutual-aid coordination with a neighboring Covington department, and preparing a preliminary police budget. The board also raised an urgent public warning after a sophisticated email scam impersonating the Planning Board chair tricked a cannabis permit applicant at 27 Berm Street into wiring $4,900 in fabricated "permit preparation fees" before his January 21 hearing, with a follow-up "post-permit charges" email arriving two days after the permit was approved. "The only way the town accepts any money is through the check," board member Jim told colleagues; "they will not accept money transfers, they will not accept cash, they will not accept credit cards." The applicant is filing complaints with the state Attorney General, the FTC, and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, and the town plans to post scam warnings and fee-payment instructions on its website.