A man allegedly on the run from a kidnapping charge in South Carolina is now facing the same charge in federal court in Maine.
Dustin Beach was in custody at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn on Wednesday afternoon, a prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. An affidavit in U.S. District Court in Portland recounts a woman’s report of a terrifying drive over hundreds of miles that ended at a Lewiston motel.
Beach, 25, has not yet appeared in court to enter a plea. Court records do not yet list a defense attorney.
Dustin Beach Courtesy Androscoggin County Jail
The affidavit states the Lewiston Police Department responded to a Motel 8 at 2:31 a.m. on July 25 for a report about a woman who had been hit with a hammer. The first responders found a woman in the lobby wearing dark sunglasses and with obvious bruises on her throat and chest. She said she wanted to leave the hotel, and they took her to a police vehicle. The woman is identified only by her initials in the indictment, and the Portland Press Herald does not name victims of alleged sex crimes without their consent.
She then told law enforcement that her ordeal began in South Carolina, where Beach offered to drive her to a Walmart to buy laundry detergent and then to a laundromat. Instead, she said he told her he was wanted by the police and broke her cellphone. The woman told police that Beach physically and sexually assaulted her multiple times on their drive to Maine. At one point, they stopped near a salvage yard, and he reportedly held her face under water in a puddle until she passed out.
The woman told police that Beach refused to let her go, and he threatened to kill her and her children. At one point, she escaped the vehicle while Beach was sleeping but was unsuccessful when she asked several people for help.
“Dustin claimed he was wanted and could not let (the woman) go because now she knew he was wanted,” the affidavit states.
The woman was examined and treated at Central Maine Medical Center. Lewiston police found Beach in the motel and interviewed him at the department. He first said that he was visiting a friend, and the woman agreed to come on the trip because she wanted to get out of the house where she was living. He denied causing her injuries or sexually assaulting her. When he learned that a rape kit was being conducted, Beach told police he had consensual sex multiple times with the woman during their trip.
Investigators executed search warrants that recovered weapons including a knife, a cane and a metal hammer. They also found a broken cellphone, clothes and paperwork with possible blood stains, as well as receipts from gas stations and restaurants between South Carolina and Maine.
The FBI agent who wrote the affidavit said Beach is facing charges for a similar incident in South Carolina. He was reportedly arrested there on March 2 and charged with kidnapping and domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, as well as multiple counts related to possession of drugs and firearms.
“The arrest stemmed from a report that Beach had over two days in February assaulted a girlfriend with a bull whip, a stick, a shotgun and a pistol,” Special Agent Patrick Clancy wrote in his affidavit. “The girlfriend also reported that Beach took her cellular telephone so that the girlfriend could not call for help.”
He was released on bail June 10. Less than three weeks later, the prosecutor’s office there learned that Beach cut off his GPS monitor. A bench warrant had been issued on July 19.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Conley said Beach has been held at the Androscoggin County Jail on related state charges, but he expected those to be dismissed. At that time, Beach would be transferred to federal custody, and he could appear in court as early as Thursday afternoon. Conley did not have any comment on the case.
A kidnapping conviction could result in a life sentence.
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