Man who eluded police multiple times and was nabbed in Waterville attic to serve 5 years in prison

AUGUSTA — A Massachusetts man who eluded arrest multiple times last year while on the run as the target of a more-than-five-week police manhunt pleaded guilty Thursday to numerous charges and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Diego Martinez Submitted photo

Diego Martinez, 32, was arrested Dec. 19, 2022, at a County Road home in Waterville, where he was found hiding in the attic, according to police.

Multiple law enforcement agencies had been searching for Martinez after officers attempted to arrest him in November 2022 in Sabattus, where he evaded capture when police had surrounded him while he was inside a home.

Officials said Martinez drove a car through a closed garage door, crashing through the door of the garage attached to the house. He then sped off, police said.

Martinez was described by police, while he was on the lam, as armed and dangerous.

At the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta, Martinez pleaded guilty Thursday to numerous charges, including felony-level counts of eluding an officer, kidnapping, theft, passing a roadblock, aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs (methamphetamine) and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

He was sentenced to a nine-year prison term, with all but five years of the sentence suspended. That means if he complies with the terms of his probation, he will serve five years in prison. But if he does not comply, he could be forced to serve the full nine years.

Martinez’s lawyer, James Howaniec, said he found the sentence excessive, but acknowledged that had Martinez gone to trial and lost, he could have faced a more severe sentence.

“I think it’s harsh. I think five years is too much,” Howaniec said, adding that when weighing the risk of trial, his client agreed to take the negotiated plea deal.

Police first sought Martinez after a state trooper responded to a two-vehicle crash May 15, 2021, in Litchfield, in which the driver of one of the vehicles fled the crash scene.

In the missing driver’s car, police found a firearm and five bag containing methamphetamine, according to Tyler LeClair, an assistant district attorney in Kennebec County. LeClair said police found a wide-brimmed hat inside the vehicle with “Diego Martinez” written on the brim. Police took DNA samples from the airbag of the vehicle, which they later matched to Martinez.

On Nov. 11, 2022, police with an arrest warrant for Martinez for the Kennebec County case surrounded a house in Sabattus. They were acting on a tip that Martinez was there, according to Patricia Mador, an assistant district attorney in Androscoggin County.

Mador said the Maine State Police Tactical Team, aware that Martinez had fled from police in the past, surrounded the house and twice inserted a chemical substance into the building in the hope it would force him to come outside. A woman who had left the house the first time the chemical was put into the building told police Martinez was inside and had a firearm tucked into his trousers.

After unsuccessfully trying to talk Martinez out of the house, police again used a chemical agent, after which they heard an engine running and then saw Martinez crash through the garage door in a Chevrolet Malibu. He then drove past police and sped off, according to officials.

Martinez led officers on a chase through Lewiston, where police, concerned for public safety, broke off the chase and alerted area police to be on the lookout for the vehicle.

The car was later found after it had crashed in Auburn, but Martinez had again fled the scene, according to officials.

A short distance from that crash site a woman reported Martinez demanded her car keys and took her 2021 Toyota Camry.

Police later located that car, with Martinez driving, and pursued it, reaching speeds of about 100 mph. He again crashed, near Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford County, and again fled on foot.

About the same time, a woman in the town of Oxford came home from a night out and found Martinez inside her home, telling her he needed a ride to Norway, according to Richard Beauchesne, an assistant district attorney in Oxford County.

Beauchesne said the woman felt she had no choice and did not want to remain inside the house with him, so she drove him up Route 26, where they encountered police who were stopping all vehicles in the effort to find Martinez.

Police ordered the woman, who was driving, out of the car, then Martinez slid over into the driver’s seat and fled in her vehicle, evading capture.

“That was a brief but intense incident of kidnapping, as well as the burglary of her home,” Beauchesne said of the incident between Martinez and the woman.

Martinez was finally arrested last Dec. 19 when law enforcement agencies converged on a house on County Road in Waterville to execute a search warrant after learning Martinez might be hiding there.

The Maine State Police Tactical and Crisis Negotiation teams attempted for several hours to make contact with Martinez at the house, but were unsuccessful. In that time, 10 people inside the house cooperated and left the residence, including a Waterville man who was arrested on a warrant.

The tactical team eventually entered the house, finding Martinez hiding in the attic.

In addition to his four warrants, Martinez was charged with refusing to submit to arrest and creating a police standoff.