by Joseph Gresser
NEWPORT — Samantha West, 38, of Newport Center appeared by video in the Criminal Division of Orleans County Superior Court Monday and pled innocent to a felony charge of impeding a public officer. Judge Lisa Warren noted Ms. West’s lengthy history of missing court dates and imposed a total of $1,100 bail, but will allow her to be released to a substance treatment facility when a place becomes available.
Ms. West has also pled innocent to misdemeanor charges of retail theft, on July 29 and August 1, 2022, in Newport, unlawful trespass and retail theft on August 10, 2022, and providing false information to implicate another on December 18 in Newport.
According to the affidavit submitted by Newport City Police Patrolman Jonathan Morin to support the charge of impeding an officer, Ms. West failed to appear for arraignment on August 30, and September 13, 2022.
Judge Warren issued an arrest warrant after the second missed arraignment.
Patrolman Morin said he got a call on December 12 from a woman who said Ms. West was in her apartment and she wanted her gone. The caller said the front door was barricaded but police could enter from the rear.
The affidavit says Patrolman Morin and another officer went to the caller’s home and were allowed in.. It says the officers found Ms. West attempting to leave by going over a second-story porch railing.
Patrolman Morin said he tried to help Ms. West get back onto the porch, but she failed to help his effort. When he called the second officer to come help, the affidavit says, Ms. West leaned away from him until Patrolman Morin could no longer hold onto her.
According to the affidavit she fell from the porch and hit a handicap ramp below and then, the ground.
Patrolman Morin said he ran downstairs and saw Ms. West running into the back alley of the Family Dollar store. He said he warned her he would use a Taser on her if he had to, and then caught up with her and tackled her.
The affidavit says Ms. West struggled and refused to let the two officers put her hands behind her back. Patrolman Morin said he punched her in the ribs twice and she then allowed herself to be handcuffed.
Man denies assaulting hospitalized woman
Judge Warren ordered Michael Abel, 39, of West Charleston to post $500 of a $5,000 secured appearance bond after he pled innocent to a felony charge of second-degree aggravated domestic assault by one with a prior conviction for the offense.
According to Newport City Police Patrolman Tanner Jacobs a nursing supervisor at North Country Hospital called on March 19 to report a domestic disturbance. Patrolman Jacobs’ affidavit said he went to the hospital with Patrolman Cody Sykes.
While Patrolman Sykes spoke with Mr. Abel, Patrolman Jacobs said he went to talk with the woman. He said she appeared confused, but said she was “basically hit in the face” by Mr. Abel.
According to the affidavit, the woman later said the incident took place several hours before it was reported. It says the woman told Patrolman Jacobs that Mr. Abel had been insulting her and then told her he couldn’t control himself and was going to hit her.
Patrolman Jacobs said the woman told him Mr. Abel hit her with his open hand on her cheek a couple of times, but when he grabbed her throat she jumped up and pushed him away.
Mr. Abel denied hitting the woman.
Man denies molesting child
Newport City Police Detective James LeClair said in an affidavit that on January 6 he and Department for Children and Families Investigator Kelsea Cutting went to the Orleans County Child Advocacy Center to speak with a girl who was referred to them by her school. According to the affidavit, the girl said when she was younger, between six and nine, between 2013 and 2018, she was repeatedly molested by Russell Dowland, 55, who is currently incarcerated.
Detective LeClair said the girl said Mr. Dowland found opportunities to touch her when her parents were not present.
Mr. Dowland denied molesting the girl and said he had never been alone with her. According to the affidavit, the girl’s parents said that he had been alone with her on occasion.
On March 28, Mr. Dowland pled innocent to felony charges of aggravated sexual assault on a victim under the age of 13, repeated aggravated sexual assault on a child, and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child.
Police charge Lowell man with evading pursuit
Orleans County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Richard Wells said the car that went by him while he sat parked on Vance Hill Road in Newport Center was going fast enough to rock his cruiser back and forth as it blew by him on March 27. Sergeant Wells’ affidavit says that when he locked his radar on the Audi it was doing 105 in a 35-mile-an-hour zone.
He followed intending to pull the car over, but it was quickly out of sight, the affidavit says. Sergeant Wells said he radioed ahead to the Newport Police Department.
Newport City Police Sergeant Nicholas Rivers saw the car speed down Lake View Drive, the affidavit says. According to the affidavit the car went at speed down a private dead-end drive.
Sergeant Wells said a woman spoke to the driver of the Audi about his speed and danger to children who were playing nearby. Sergeant Rivers got to the man, identified as Thomas Rooney, 33, of Lowell, the affidavit says.
It says Mr. Rooney told Sergeant Rivers that he and his two friends were visiting an acquaintance who lived at the end of the road. Sergeant Wells said the owner of the house was able to see, by video surveillance, that no one in the car was familiar to him.
Mr. Rooney pled innocent to a felony charge of eluding a law enforcement officer as well as driving at excessive speed, reckless or grossly negligent driving, and two charges of reckless endangerment. Judge Warren ordered him released on conditions.
Man denies stealing, then selling, car
When the Newport City Police Department came across a car that had been reported stolen, an investigation by the State Police turned up something a bit more nefarious according to an affidavit from Trooper Nathan Handy. He said city officers found the stolen car on June 22, 2022.
Trooper Handy said he phoned the car’s owner and told him of the discovery. The owner said police should tow the car and gave Trooper Handy permission to search it.
Soon after Trooper Handy along with Sergeant Rivers and Newport Patrolman Cody Smith knocked on the door of the house where the car was located. When the woman who answered the door said she knew nothing about the car, Sergeant Rivers asked to speak with her son.
Another woman came to the door and said she had a bill of sale for the car. When told it had been stolen, she said she would get the keys.
A short time later, Trooper Handy said, the woman’s son came to the door. He said he bought the car for $700 from a man who identified himself using the car owner’s name.
Trooper Handy said the man only later realized he was not the owner, but Harry Rock Norway, 53, of Charleston. According to the affidavit, the woman’s son said Mr. Rock had a heavy beard which made him hard to recognize even though he had once dated a friend.
The man told Trooper Handy that he paid $700 for the car and believed Mr. Norway was its owner because he had all the paperwork for it, the affidavit says.
Trooper Handy said the woman’s son asked if he could retrieve his possessions from the car. The affidavit says a search turned up drug paraphernalia in the trunk along with jigsaws and other tools.
Further investigation showed the car’s catalytic converter had been removed, the affidavit says.
On March 28 Mr. Norway pled innocent to false pretenses, forgery, and car theft. He was released on conditions.
Misdemeanor arraignments
Among those pleading innocent to misdemeanors were:
Skyler Lizotte, 26, of Irasburg to DUI on March 10 in Newport;
Richard Sanville, 60, of Derby to driving while his license was under suspension (DLS) and three charges of violating conditions of release on February 4 and another charge of DLS and violating conditions of release on March 3, all in Derby;
Howard Bingham, 53, of Island Pond to providing false information to a law enforcement officer to implicate another on March 1 in Lowell;
Joel Sargent, 31, of Woodbury to violating conditions of release on January 20 in Craftsbury, false pretenses between January 26 and 31 in Albany, and false pretenses on January 29 in Charleston;
Andrew S. Merrill, 22, of West Charleston to DUI and reckless or grossly negligent driving on March 12 in Derby;
Alex Becker, 34, of Newport to violating conditions of release on March 12, unlawful trespass on land and two charges of violating conditions of release on March 20, and violating conditions of release on March 26, all in Newport;
Jean Paul Wilfred Souliere, 50, of Newport to two charges of violating conditions of release on March 27 in Newport, and
Matthew Bernard, 40, of Jay to two charges of domestic assault and two charges of criminal threatening on March 29 in Jay.
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