WISCASSET — An Augusta man is being held in jail in Lincoln County following his arrest early Monday in Jefferson on kidnapping and domestic violence charges.
On Tuesday, Lt. Brendon Kane of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said the incident remains under investigation and he could give no details about it.
According to probable cause statements on file at the Lincoln County courthouse, deputies arrested Guy M. Ricketts, 43, of Augusta, after a Whitefield woman alerted law enforcement that she and a man had been held hostage at her home by Ricketts and that Ricketts had forced the man to leave with him at gunpoint in a car.
In his statement, Deputy Matthew Ryan said as he was responding to the call, a Maine State Police trooper had found that car at Peaslee’s Quick Stop in Jefferson. When Ryan arrived at the convenience store on Route 32, Ricketts stated he had been kidnapped by the other man, and the other man said Ricketts kidnapped him.
Police found a .22 caliber revolver on the car’s passenger side, with the muzzle pointing at the driver’s side. Ryan wrote that indicated the gun was in the possession of Ricketts, who was the passenger, and who had both a knife and a hatchet on him.
Ryan wrote that the woman told Deputy Jerold Winslow, who was interviewing her at her home, that Ricketts had fired a round into the mattress of the bed she was sitting on and that he had thrown needles at her.
In his statement to Ryan, the man said Ricketts had pointed a gun at him and fired a round into the mattress while he was at the woman’s house.
Ryan wrote that when he searched Ricketts, he found .22 caliber rounds, a pill bottle with several different types of pills, a glass pipe and a plastic bag that contained what appeared to be narcotics; they have been submitted for testing.
Ricketts claimed to Ryan that he was a drug user and a drug dealer; he also disclosed he has several mental illnesses.
Ricketts, according to the statement, had told Ryan he believed the woman and man were having an affair and he showed up at the house when they were not expecting him. Ricketts also claimed the man was part of a cartel and he was afraid the man would shoot him.
“While transporting Guy to the jail he made the excited utterance that he had shown up with a machete. He also made statements about wanting to go after cartel members,” Ryan wrote. “I later Mirandized him and asked him about this. He stated he did not say anything about a machete, and insisted (the woman and man) and cartel members were setting him up.”
Ryan wrote that based on the statements given and evidence collected, he had probably cause to charge Ricketts with kidnapping, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, domestic violence terrorizing, and domestic violence criminal threatening.
Kidnapping is a Class A felony in Maine, making it among the most serious offences. The other charges are Class C felonies.
Officials confirmed Tuesday that Ricketts is being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset on $10,000 bail.
Copy the Story LinkComments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
