PARIS – A 41-year-old Canton man was ordered to serve six months of a three-year sentence on a variety of charges Tuesday.

Michael O’Brien McKeen of 46 Staples Hill Road pleaded guilty Jan. 22 to charges of criminal threatening, two counts of assault and violation of conditions of release in one incident, and eluding an officer and driving to endanger in another.

McKeen will also serve two years of probation, pay a $600 fine, and lose his driver’s license for 30 days.

Deputy George Cayer of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office said McKeen led him on a high-speed chase Sept. 6 through Peru and Canton before stopping at his residence. Exactly three months later, McKeen was arrested by Maine State Trooper Tyler Stevenson. Stevenson said McKeen had doused his own 54-year-old stepfather with gasoline and threatened to light him on fire, and had also pushed a 60-year-old man into a wall.

Assistant District Attorney Joe O’Connor was seeking a stiffer sentence in which McKeen would serve one year of the underlying sentence.

Defense attorney Ron Hoffman argued that McKeen had been seeking help for substance abuse and that a longer sentence would inhibit his treatment.

McKeen apologized for his actions prior to sentencing.


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