FARMINGTON – A local man has been charged with kidnapping and other charges, following an incident that allegedly occurred at a residence on the Temple Road.
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Brian Smith, 24, of Farmington, is being held on $10,000 cash bail following a court appearance Monday afternoon. Smith has been charged with kidnapping, a Class A felony, as well as domestic assault and falsifying physical evidence, both Class D misdemeanors.
According to court documents, submitted by Farmington Police Department officers in order to obtain a search warrant on Feb. 28, police received a “be on the look out” request from Smith, just before 7 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28, regarding a female acquaintance.
Later that day, according to the affidavit, police received a call from the woman, who was with a friend in Casco. She reportedly told them that she had been assaulted and held against her will at Smith’s residence the previous evening. Upon returning to Farmington and speaking with an officer, police say that the woman told them that a disagreement over a statement posted on Facebook, a social/networking Web site, had escalated into a situation in which Smith assaulted her and tied her up with a short length of rope.
This incident allegedly began between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27, the affidavit indicates, and continued until 5 a.m. the next morning. During that period, Smith allegedly assaulted the woman and reportedly burned a shirt and other material that had been bloodied during the alleged assault. The woman told police that Smith had said that she could leave at 6 a.m., but that when he became distracted at 5 a.m. she fled the residence.
A number of officers searched Smith’s residence on Feb. 28, after Officer Darin Gilbert obtained a search warrant. According to the court documents, several pieces of evidence were collected that appear to collaborate the woman’s story, including partially-burned material in the backyard of the property.
Smith appeared in court Monday, for an initial appearance on the charges. As the kidnapping charge is a felony, no plea was requested or entered. Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson argued for $10,000 cash bail, or $100,000 in single surety, citing the seriousness of the charges and Smith’s prior criminal history, which Robinson said included a Florida conviction in 2005 for battery, the equivalent of an assault conviction in Maine.
Robinson also cited a piece of evidence found by police, which he said appeared to be a “to do” list on Smith’s refrigerator.
“Number one was to ‘clear criminal record,'” Robinson told Justice Robert Clifford, “and number two was to ‘return to Florida.'”
“I’m pretty concerned about the nature of the allegations,” Clifford said, agreeing with Robinson, “and the prior record and the note.”
Clifford set the bail at $10,000 cash, or $50,000 single surety. Conditions of bail include no contact with the alleged victim and no possession of alcohol. Smith will be allowed to reargue the issue of bail when a lawyer is appointed to handle his case.
