FARMINGTON — An Augusta man was ordered held without bail Thursday on a probation violation in connection with the theft of vehicles and driving a van that struck a Wilton police cruiser and injured an officer in October.

Jacob Hastings, 20, was arrested on warrants while reporting to a probation officer in another county on Wednesday, Franklin County Sheriff’s Lt. Niles Yeaton said Thursday.

Hastings, who was recently released from prison after serving four years on a Kennebec County robbery conviction, was transferred to Franklin County jail and appeared in Farmington District Court on Thursday.

The Sheriff’s Department issued a warrant for Hastings’ arrest after the Oct. 19 and 20 incidents in Temple and Farmington, which included the theft of five vehicles and ramming a cruiser.

Hastings was not allowed to enter any pleas in court Thursday on the Kennebec County charge of probation violation and the Franklin County charges of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and unauthorized use of property.

He is one of four men believed to be involved in the October incidents.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson told the court that Hastings had a three-count robbery conviction from 2006, and had served four years of the sentence and was serving four years probation in connection with that. He also has a 10-year suspended sentence for robbery in connection with that conviction, which was consecutive to the four-year sentence.

He was on probation when the October events took place, Robinson said.

Hastings has been identified by a witness, Robinson said, as the driver of a stolen vehicle that crashed into a Wilton police cruiser and injured officer Nate Reid.

Robinson asked the court to set no bail on the Kennebec County charge and to set $10,000 cash or $100,000 worth of real estate on the Franklin County charges.

A court-appointed attorney, Beth Maddaus, asked for $1,000 cash bail or $10,000 worth of real estate for the Franklin County charges. She said Hastings denied involvement in the incidents. She also said he has family in the area and that he had turned himself in.

Judge Stanfill granted the state’s bail request and ordered Hastings to have no contact with Robert Lacroix, Caleb Hupper and Tom Cook.

There is an active arrest warrant out for Lacroix, 22, of Winslow in connection to the case, Lt. Yeaton said Thursday. Two other men face charges in the case, he said.

According to a police affidavit filed with the court, an Avon resident was approached by a man in his 20s at 6:20 a.m. Oct. 20 who was wet from the waist down, who had visible injuries to the head and scrapes on the back. The man told the resident he had been injured in a truck accident. The man used the resident’s cell phone to call a friend and the resident then drove him to a store in Strong.

Police checked the resident’s cell phone and the number called was assigned to Caleb Hupper. When a photo was shown to the Avon resident, he identified Lacroix as the man he gave a ride.

In the same affidavit, it states that Hupper admitted to Deputy Ken Charles that he gave a ride to both Lacroix and Hastings to steal a vehicle to use in a store robbery at My Wife’s Place in New Vineyard. Hupper also told Charles that he was told by Hastings that Hastings had been driving the van at the time of the crash. Hupper also told Charles that he had picked up Hastings on the morning of Oct. 20 at McDonald’s restaurant.

Hastings had been driving an Chevrolet Avalanche pickup, which was later recovered from the restaurant’s parking lot and discovered to have been stolen from Temple.

Hupper, 19, New Vineyard has been jailed on a probation hold since Oct. 22. Hupper has not been charged in connection with the October incidents. Hupper was sentenced in 2008 to serve four years with all but 18 months suspended after he pleaded guilty to robbery and aggravated assault against a University of Maine at Farmington student on Dec. 9, 2007.

Justice Michaela Murphy told Hupper at his sentencing that he would be ordered back to prison to serve the rest of his four-year sentence if he violated his probation.

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