PARIS — Convicted sex offender Stephen Heath is being held at the Oxford County Jail on $250 cash bail in connection with a misdemeanor charge of criminal restraint at his home on Roxbury Notch Road in Roxbury.
Heath, 56, was granted bail at his initial appearance in 11th District Court on Monday, but will not be released because of a probation hold, according to a jail official.
According to an affidavit for arrest filed by Maine State Police Detective Herbert Leighton, police received a complaint Friday afternoon of a woman, who had been sexually assaulted at Heath’s home, being held against her will.
The 18-year-old Skowhegan woman sent her father a text message and called him to report she was at Heath’s home and wasn’t able to leave.
A deputy from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call at the request of state police, because the deputy was closer to Roxbury.
As Oxford County Cpl. George Cayer approached Heath’s home, he was flagged down by a motorist, who told the officer that Heath was up the hill in his truck with a woman.
Cayer asked the woman if she needed help, according to the affidavit, and she pulled up her sleeves, where the officer “observed injuries on her that were consistent with being tied up.” The woman also told Cayer that “she had been forced to have sex” with Heath, and paramedics later reported seeing bruising on the woman’s wrists “consistent with rope marks,” as well as bite marks.
According to the police affidavit, the woman told Cayer she had been at Heath’s home since Tuesday, Feb. 19, and she was afraid to ask Heath if she could leave. When she asked Heath if he would untie her, he refused, according to the affidavit.
In a text sent at 3:46 p.m. Friday, the woman wrote to her father, “I can’t. I tried. But. He attacked me in tied me up I had to please him until he untied me.”
Heath is a lifetime registrant on the Maine Sex Offender Registry. According to the registry, he was convicted on April 25, 1990, of first-degree sodomy in Springfield, Ore. He was sentenced to 37 months and probation.
If convicted of criminal restraint, he faces up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
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I'm going to assume there's
I'm going to assume there's more to the story than we're getting here.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I am hoping there is more!
I am hoping there is more! If not there is a BIG problem with the legal system.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Seriously!
What is wrong with the legal system? $2000 fine and maximum 364 days in jail for tying up and raping a woman. This guy needs to be put away for a long time.
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Kudos AwardedAgree (3)
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.You're confused
There is nothing wrong with the legal system here, you clearly just don't know Maine Statutes. It's not Maximum 364 days and $2000 fine for raping a woman. That's for criminal restraint, a separate crime. That's what the initial report was and that is what all the evidence pointed to (testimony & physical observation). You cannot tell if someone's been sexually assaulted without a rape kit performed by a medical personnel so this story is only reporting the crime of physical restraint so far which carries $2000 fine & 364 days in jail maximum. Gross Sexual Assault (rape) carries a much heavier sentence. Do some research next time..
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