Trial set for Leeds men accused of kidnapping, robbery

AUBURN — Attorneys on Monday picked a jury for the upcoming trial of two men accused of kidnapping, assaulting and robbing a Livermore Falls man earlier this year.

Donald White, 30, and David Surette, 19, both of Leeds, are scheduled to go to trial next week, a clerk at Androscoggin County Superior Court said Monday. They are charged with multiple felonies stemming from a March incident.

Police said Frank Lynch went to White's home to buy a car from him in March. When he arrived, White and Surette — reportedly White's cousin — beat Lynch, then bound him and robbed him of the $300 he had brought to pay for the car.

A gun was put in Lynch's mouth, his life was threatened and he was gagged, he told police, according to a state police affidavit in court papers.

Lynch said he was bound with tape and cord and forced into the trunk of White's car. White and Surette drove Lynch to his girlfriend's home in Livermore Falls where more money, about $2,000, was stolen from a nightstand, court papers said.

The two men had knocked on her door, but she wouldn't open it because Lynch had instructed her not to, he told police. White and Surette opened the truck, let Lynch out and took off his gag and restraints. They walked him up to his girlfriend's mobile home, where he was told to call out to her to open the door, the affidavit said.

The two men then drove Lynch back to White's home, police said.

Back at White's home, Lynch was held longer and threatened more. Then White wrote out a bill of sale for the Honda Civic Lynch had tried to buy earlier and let him go. Lynch left in the same borrowed vehicle he arrived in, he told police.

Police said they heard about the events and later tracked down Lynch. They took him to a Lewiston hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Both men are being held in Androscoggin County Jail.