MONMOUTH — A Jay man being held without bail at Franklin County jail is facing eight charges from Monmouth police stemming from a Jan. 20 incident.

Michael W. Gatcomb Jr., 29, is charged with one felony count each of eluding a police officer, violating conditions of release and tampering with a witness. He is also charged with one misdemeanor count each of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident, criminal mischief, refusing to submit to arrest,  driving to endanger and speeding 30-plus, Monmouth police Chief Kevin Mulherin said Wednesday.

A conviction on each felony charge carries up to five years in prison.

Monmouth officer Dana Wessling tried to pull a Jeep over at 1:40 a.m. Jan. 20 for a suspicious condition and the vehicle refused to stop, Mulherin said. Wessling chased it to Route 106 in Leeds and it crashed into a car trailer.

When the vehicle hit the trailer, Mulherin said Wessling drew his gun and approached the vehicle. That’s when the vehicle started backing up toward the officer and took off, he said.

The vehicle crashed about 2 miles away on Route 106 in Leeds and the driver, later identified as Gatcomb, bailed, Mulherin said. Gatcomb fled into the woods and left the passenger in the vehicle, which had a right-handed steering wheel, he said.

Wessling filed for an arrest warrant on Gatcomb and received it Feb. 1, he said.

Gatcomb was the subject of a search that began on Friday when he fled into the woods from Wilton and Jay officers in Jay when a vehicle was stopped that he was a passenger in. The search ended in a standoff at a mobile home park in North Jay on Sunday night. Gatcomb was taken into custody there.

There was an arrest warrant out for Gatcomb for a domestic violence assault and violation conditions of release from the Jay Police Department for a Jan. 30 incident.

When Gatcomb appeared Tuesday in 12th District Court in Farmington, Judge Nancy Carlson revoked his preconviction bail — at the state’s request — related to two charges of felony theft on Jan. 5 at Hannaford Bros. in Jay.

Gatcomb’s bail was set at $10,000 cash on a felony charge of domestic violence assault and $1,000 violation of release conditions.

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