PARIS – Four men from the Fryeburg area were indicted on April 8 by an Oxford County grand jury and each charged with felony robbery stemming from two separate incidents.
An arrest warrant was issued for Justin T. Keene, 22, of Fryeburg, after he was charged with allegedly committing the Class A crime in Fryeburg on March 11 while armed with a handgun.
Also charged in the same incident, was Jeff C. Wolcott, 22, of Fryeburg. The indictment stated that Wolcott was charged with the same crime, because he allegedly “knew his accomplice was armed with a handgun.”
On March 19 in Bridgton District Court, Wolcott’s lawyer, Brian Hawkins of Bridgton, waived formal arraignment for his client, and entered a plea of not guilty. Wolcott is free on a $500 cash bail bond.
Edmund E. Gaudette, 23, of North Conway, N.H., and Michael W. Verney, 24, of Fryeburg, were each charged with one count of Class A robbery and one count of misdemeanor assault in connection with an incident alleged to have occurred on Feb. 1 in Fryeburg.
Gaudette could not post either $200,000 surety bail or $25,000 cash bail and remained at Oxford County jail in Paris. Verney is free on a $450 cash bail bond.
In one case, Fryeburg Officer Richard Murray stated in an affidavit in Wolcott’s court file that at 10:10 p.m. on March 11, two young men reported that they had been robbed at gunpoint of $318 cash while parked in Wolcott’s car behind the Fryeburg Academy gymnasium. Murray said one of the 18-year-old victims had called Wolcott to the area to have him purchase beer for them.
But, once the victims were in the car, Wolcott’s passenger allegedly pointed a cocked pistol at them, demanded their money, and made them exit the vehicle, Murray stated. Keene and Wolcott were later found by Bridgton police in Bridgton and arrested by Murray.
In the other case, Gaudette and Verney are alleged to have enticed a younger male victim into their car on Feb. 1 to check out its sound system at Saco Valley Sports Center in Fryeburg.
Arresting Fryeburg Officer Bryan Leblanc stated in his affidavit in Gaudette’s court file that once the victim was in the back seat of the two-door car, Gaudette and Verney allegedly told him to give them his money, and began punching him in the face.
One of the men, reportedly, also threatened to stab the victim with a screwdriver, but the victim fought his way into the front seat and out of the car, Leblanc stated.
In the process, the victim lost several items of personal clothing, $60 in cash and plastic cards in a wallet, a cell phone and keys, Leblanc stated.
Leblanc said that Gaudette and Verney were arrested 30 minutes later in a Wal-Mart parking lot in North Conway, N.H., based on the victim’s descriptions of the men, and the stolen items were recovered. Initially, Gaudette was held at Carroll County jail in Ossipee, N.H., on a parole violation from Arizona, said Fryeburg Deputy Ian Tait in an affidavit in Verney’s court file.
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