By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

KINGFIELD – A Kingfield man gave himself up early Monday morning after police made several attempts to contact him over a 24-hour period.

Kevin S. Crute, 24, was charged with stalking after incidents that occurred Saturday night and early Sunday morning, according to state trooper Matthew Casavant.

Casavant said Crute had been drinking at the Widowmaker Lounge at Sugarloaf ski resort Saturday night and was removed by Carrabassett Valley police and he received a summons for criminal trespassing.

About 2:15 a.m. Sunday, Casavant responded to woman’s home in Kingfield after she reported that Crute was beating on her door trying to get inside.

Police went to Crute’s Main Street home, and he was believed to be inside, having left tracks in snow leading there. Casavant knocked on Crute’s front door, but there was no answer.

Sunday afternoon, Casavant interviewed the victim and discovered that Crute had made several calls to her from his cell phone while attempting to get into her home. The trooper said he had called eight times, leaving four or five threatening messages. After listening to the messages, “it was clear there was criminal activity,” Casavant said Tuesday.

Two state troopers and three sheriff’s deputies spent several hours Sunday trying to locate Crute, pounding on his door, calling him on his cell phone and finally resorting to using spotlights and a loudspeaker in front of his home to get him to come out to speak with them. By about 1 a.m. Monday, police had obtained search and arrest warrants.

Trooper Jared Stedman spoke with Crute through a window, eventually persuading him to come out and submit to arrest.

Crute was taken to Franklin County jail and released later Monday on $1,000 cash bail, on the condition that he not have contact with the victim.

In an unrelated case, a 47-year-old Wilton man was arrested Jan. 12 on two counts of tampering with a witness after Franklin County Sheriff’s Detective David St. Laurent investigated a case of stalking and terrorizing.

Peter Ankers had been arrested in November after he allegedly threatened a Wilton woman, following her, making threats and pulling up next to her in his vehicle and making a gun gesture at her. Bail conditions dictated that Ankers not have contact with the victim or the two people who had witnessed the incidents.

Wilton police officer Robert Cole and St. Laurent followed up with an investigation. Ankers was charged with two counts of tampering with a witness and two counts of bail violations. Ankers was released on $20,000 surety.

Both suspects have court dates of Feb. 23.