FARMINGTON – Three young men are in jail Monday morning, after police allege they burned an all-terrain vehicle, robbed a convenience store and assaulted a local man with brass knuckles.
Zachary Haines, 19, of Farmington, was arrested Friday morning and has been charged with aggravated assault, a Class B felony, and arson, a Class A felony, as well as theft by unauthorized taking, a misdemeanor. Arrested later that day were Jesse Coffin, 21, of Kingfield, and Zebbie Thomas, 18, of Jay, on aggravated assault, arson and theft by unauthorized taking. Additionally, police say that Coffin had an existing warrant and was charged with failure to appear in court, and Thomas was charged with falsifying evidence, a misdemeanor.
According to Farmington Police Department Officer Darin Gilbert, on Friday morning Officer William Tanner responded to Franklin Memorial Hospital after a young man, who was being treated with stitches, said he wanted to make a complaint. The man alleged that he had been forced to drive the three men around, after being threatened with violence. Police believe he had been beaten with a pair of brass knuckles, sometime in the early hours of Friday morning.
Police began investigating, arresting Haines that morning after the alleged victim reportedly identified him. Meanwhile, police suspected that a three-wheeled all-terrain vehicle had been burned by the trio at roughly 1 a.m. Friday morning, at the parking lot near the entrance to the Whistle Stop Trail in West Farmington. That vehicle is believed to be the one reported stolen from a Jay residence on Aug. 8, and Gilbert said police believe it was destroyed, with burning paper shoved into the gas tank, in an effort to conceal the theft.
Police believe that the three men attempted to purchase alcohol at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Livermore Falls Thursday evening, but were denied due to being under aged. Sometime in the late hours of Thursday or early hours of Friday, police allege the three men stole alcohol from the Farmington Cumberland Farms.
Jay Police Department Detective Richard Caton IV and Gilbert continued to investigate the incident throughout the day Friday, and eventually were contacted by Coffin and Thomas, who had heard police were searching for them, and the two men began discussing meeting with police. Gilbert said that his office received an anonymous tip that the two were looking to leave town, however, and Gilbert, Sgt. Shane Cote and Franklin County Sheriff’s Department personnel arrested the men at Sunnyville Apartments in Farmington.
The three men are currently in jail, held on $10,000 cash bail bonds.
No respect for others or other persons property. I say throw them in jail and throw away the key. It’s time the kids learned that other people have nice things that they worked hard to get and don’t need their kind coming around and taking it away from us. I bet the court gives them a fine, then sends the little darlings home alot of good that is going to do. If I remember right I think I saw one of those names just recently on news about some other trouble.
The person who used the brass knuckles should be punished severely, because he intended to to cause harm. I hope the judge shows no leniency because it’s a first offense or age. When you use brass knuckles – you’re damaged goods, you’re sick, and deserve to be removed from society for so long you think more than twice before ever doing anything so violent again.
It reminds me of that Tom Petty song – Refugee. ” Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around, son.” Even if you’ve had a tragic past – go get help. Why repeat the stupid pattern? You get sick of criminals getting off easy because people feel sorry for them.
What do you think it felt like to get hit with the bone breaking force of metal? I wish the legal system offered the option to the victim and their parents, that the attacker have the same thing done to him. Imagine how you’d feel if you were the victim’s parents?
Would a Momma bear watch her cub get mauled? Hell no. There would be one wicked slap. That’s nature’s way. It will be so sickening if we find out he gets something like 5 years in prison, with all but one year suspended. That’s why people do stuff like this.
My point isn’t that you have to use violence, but that the jail sentence be long, so that it is more equal in severity to the justifiable beating it’s replacing. If you’ve never been a victim of a violent attack, you can’t relate, and may argue and unintentionally support the attacker over the victim. It sounds politically correct to say the attacker is also a victim, and in a way they might be, but that doesn’t justify what they did.