By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – Wearing handcuffs and blue Androscoggin County prisoner garb, Craig Tracy made a tearful plea Friday in Franklin County Superior Court to serve his sentence in Franklin County. He was denied.

Tracy, 22, of Canton has been in and out of jail since 2001, violating probation three times and convicted of escape from Franklin County while wearing a tracking bracelet, according to Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson. Convicted of theft as a juvenile in 2001, Tracy also served time for assault, terrorizing and burglary.

Tracy pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and furnishing alcohol to a minor in connection with an incident while under house arrest in Jay in 2004. He fled Franklin County, a violation of his custody agreement, within days of his intended release. He was sentenced to one year last February.

While he was out on probation, police stopped his vehicle in Farmington on Sept. 30 for a mechanical defect and found more than an ounce of marijuana under the passenger’s seat. He was arrested on probation violations, charged with illegal furnishing of drugs and has been incarcerated at Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn since, to avoid a possible conflict in the Franklin County facility.

Robinson told Justice Joseph Jabar that the prisoner “should receive a signal that there’s no leeway for Mr. Tracy.”

“He’s no archcriminal,” argued Tracy’s attorney, Andrews Campbell. Having been accused of rape, “he disappeared for three days because he was scared to death,” he said. “He’s attempting to show responsibility at this time in his life,” he continued.

Tracy has a 2-year-old son who lives in Franklin County, as does his mother.

“I’m asking you to allow me to do my time in Franklin County,” Tracy said to the judge in a tremulous voice. “I wasn’t out breaking the law.”

“You don’t think unlawful furnishing is breaking the law?” Jabar asked him. “You should have toed the line while you were on probation. Maybe if you don’t see your son, you’ll understand what it means,” he said, denying Tracy’s request.

At the time of his latest arrest, Tracy was on probation with a suspended three-year sentence. Jabar imposed a one-year partial revocation of the probation, to be served in the Department of Corrections.