Bail set at $50,000 cash for Buckfield suspect in standoff

PARIS — Bail was set at $50,000 cash Monday afternoon at 8th District Court for a Buckfield man charged after a standoff Thursday night and leading police on a chase through the woods of Buckfield and Sumner.

Jason Merriam

Jason Merriam, 36, was arrested noon Friday, Nov. 3, on charges of felony domestic violence terrorizing, and misdemeanor domestic violence assault and obstructing the report of a crime.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne said bail conditions include no contact with the victims involved in the standoff, no use or possession of drugs or alcohol, no possession of firearms or dangerous weapons, and being subject to random search and testing.

Greg Braun, serving as Merriam’s attorney for the afternoon, said that while he and Merriam did “not agree” to the state’s recommendation, “we’re not challenging or arguing it.”

According to an affidavit written by Oxford County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Joshua Daley in support of Merriam’s arrest, police received a call from 23 Tucker Road for the report of a domestic disturbance.

Upon arriving, Daley wrote, a witness reported that Merriam, who was at the house with his three children and two other children who were not his, was intoxicated and threatening to shave the head of the witness’ daughter.

Daley wrote that Merriam began to get aggressive with the people in the house after nobody would take him to the store to buy more alcohol.

The witness stated that Merriam began to shave her child’s hair, and when she attempted to intervene, Merriam attacked both of them with closed fists, causing injury, according to the affidavit.

Daley wrote that Merriam broke two of the children’s phones when they attempted to call the police, and that he was making “homicidal threats” to the people in the household Thursday evening.

At 9:30 p.m., Daley wrote, everyone besides Merriam and his biological children had escaped the house.

Police said that by 7 a.m. Friday, all of the children in the house were accounted for, and by 8 a.m., Merriam had fled the house.

Merriam’s convictions in Oxford and Androscoggin county courts date back to 1999, and he has been convicted of a number of crimes, including aggravated assault, domestic violence assault, harassment, operating under the influence of intoxication and threatening with a dangerous weapon.

[email protected]