RUMFORD – A Rumford man remained hospitalized Tuesday evening at Rumford Hospital after another Rumford man broke a dinner plate over his head, then pummeled him with fists, Detective Sgt. Daniel Garbarini said.
Dennis Smith, 54, of Cumberland Street, suffered multiple lacerations to his head from the plate, and both eyes were swollen shut, Garbarini said.
Smith was taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital. Early Tuesday evening, a nursing supervisor said Smith was in fair condition.
During their investigation, police found Smith’s alleged assailant, Donn Dyer, 59, sleeping in an abandoned vehicle on Rumford Avenue, Garbarini said.
Dyer was arrested at 6:05 a.m. and charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, a Class B felony.
Dyer failed to post bail of either $5,000 cash or $70,000 real estate, and was taken to Oxford County Jail in Paris. He is expected to be arraigned in Oxford County Superior Court, but a date has yet to be set.
Garbarini said Dyer has a previous history of assaults in Rumford.
In other police matters:
• A 15-year-old Rumford boy was summoned Tuesday and charged with three counts of criminal mischief stemming from a rash of vandalism incidents that occurred on April 14, acting Detective Mark Cayer said Tuesday.
Last week, another 15-year-old Rumford boy was summoned for the same crimes and charged with three counts of criminal mischief. Both youths are to be arraigned in juvenile court on Aug. 14 at Rumford District Court.
Cayer said the teens threw rocks at a car, damaged town property, and pulled wires out of a heating system at Rent-A-Center. Damage was more than $300, but one of the victims didn’t want restitution, he said.
• On Monday, there was a three-car accident on Route 2 on Falls Hill, with three youths complaining of neck and back pain, but only one was taken by Med-Care to Rumford Hospital, Garbarini said.
• A South Rumford Road resident reported July 3 that a child had been sexually abused more than three years ago.
• A Rumford resident reported on June 27 that a man in his mid 20s had sexually assaulted a young girl on that day in a Franklin Street apartment, Cayer said. Rape Education and Crisis Hotline advocates are assisting in the investigation by working with the victim, he added.
• Police believe they’ve solved a rash of residential burglaries in May and June, arresting a 17-year-old Rumford girl, whom Cayer said was caught in the act of burglarizing a Somerset Street residence by the homeowner at 3 a.m. on June 17.
The girl, who was charged with four counts of felony burglary and four counts of theft, will be arraigned on Aug. 14 in juvenile court in Rumford District Court. She was released to her parents.
Cayer said the girl stole about $500.
“She struck at nighttime when people were sleeping. She attempted to burglarize several other homes, but the doors were locked and she couldn’t get in, so, she just moved right along to homes where the doors were unlocked,” he said.
In addition to the citizen assist, Cayer said Officers Tracy Higley and Paul Casey and detectives used past police reports and secured evidence from previous burglaries to zero in on the girl.
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