Hollis man sentenced to two years for assaulting police officers

PARIS — A Hollis man was sentenced Thursday at Oxford County Superior Court to two years in prison for assaulting two police officers and stealing the shirt off a Circle K clerk in Mexico in 2015.

Robert Keoskie, 43, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting an officer, and misdemeanor counts of assault and theft by unauthorized taking during the hearing.

Judge Lance Walker said Keoskie will serve two years for the assaults and 60 days for the theft, all concurrent sentences. He also ordered Keoskie to pay a $300 fine on the assault charge.

Mexico Police Chief Roy Hodsdon said Keoskie was arrested Oct. 20, 2015, after police received a 911 call from the Circle K gas station on Main Street that a man threatened a clerk and demanded merchandise. Keoskie took the clerk’s red Circle K shirt, cigarettes and a lighter and left the store, the chief said.

Hodsdon said police found Keoskie a short distance from the gas station, and when Rumford Sgt. James Bernard and Cpl. Lawrence Winson approached him, he kicked one of the officers in the groin and hit the other in the head.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor told Walker that according to officer testimony, Keoskie had tried to incite another customer to rob the store with him, and when he failed, he went to the back of the store, drank three beers and threatened the clerk for more merchandise.