A teenage girl suffered ‘serious’ cuts escaping an alleged assault.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

PHILLIPS – A Phillips man faces several charges for allegedly attempting to sexually assault a 16-year-old northern Franklin County girl. Police said the teen suffered “serious” cuts to her hands when she broke a window to escape and ran to a neighbor’s home for help.

Alcohol and drugs were allegedly involved in the case, Franklin County Sheriff’s Lt. Niles Yeaton said.

Joel Thompson, 29, was arrested Saturday and charged with aggravated unlawful sexual contact, Yeaton said.

Additionally, Thompson was charged with furnishing a place for minors to consume or possess alcohol and with aggravated unlawfully furnishing a Schedule Z drug, marijuana, Yeaton said.

Thompson posted bail of $20,000 surety Tuesday afternoon, an intake worker at the county jail said.

A second Phillips man was arrested Monday night on unrelated charges after police conducted a second search of his Park Street home. That’s the home that the teenaged girl fled.

Scott A. Pinkham, 35, was charged with aggravated unlawfully furnishing schedule drugs. Pinkham posted $1,000 cash bail Monday night.

Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an initial report Saturday of a juvenile girl being cut with a knife during an attempted gross sexual assault, Yeaton said.

Deputy Aaron Turcotte and members of the Criminal Investigation Division as well as other patrol deputies responded to the complaint, Yeaton said.

The investigation led police to believe the girl wasn’t cut by a knife but rather cut when she broke window glass in a residence across the street from Thompson’s Park Street home.

The girl and her boyfriend were visiting with Thompson, Yeaton said, and allegedly had been consuming alcoholic beverages.

For whatever reason, the girl went across the street with Thompson where he allegedly attempted to assault her, Yeaton said.

Thompson told police he had a key to Pinkham’s home, but a door was kicked in, Yeaton said, and Pinkham told police Thompson didn’t have a key.

When the girl escaped from the house she ran to a neighbor’s house down the street, Yeaton said.

She was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and treated for cuts on her hands, he said. The cuts were “quite serious,” Yeaton said. “She lost a lot of blood.”

She was treated and released from the hospital.

Deputies searched Thompson’s and Pinkham’s residences, Yeaton said, looking for evidence of the alleged crimes.

Deputies and a state police trooper searched Pinkham’s residence again Monday and seized less than a pound of marijuana, cash, a handgun, marijuana growing material – though a growing operation wasn’t ongoing – drug paraphernalia and a small safe, Yeaton said.

Police are still trying to piece together what happened, the lieutenant added.

Copy the Story Link