Verona Island man convicted of assaulting girl, threatening to shoot 6-year-old
A Verona Island man was discovered responsible this week of a number of home violence prices, together with threatening to shoot a 6-year-old woman.
Jeffrey A. Witham Jr., 47, was arrested in June 2020 after police discovered about “a really violent home violence incident which had been occurring for a number of hours,” the Hancock County Sheriff’s Division stated on the time.
Witham was accused of punching a lady within the face and trying to strangle her till she handed out in entrance of her daughter, in response to a police affidavit filed in court docket. He additionally threatened the lady with a baseball bat, instructed the lady he was going to shoot her daughter, who was current on the time, and threatened to shoot each of them, police stated.
At instances in the course of the extended episode, Witham brandished a blue pistol on the girl and woman and at one level whereas all of them had been in a automotive he held the gun up beneath the lady’s chin and threatened to tug the set off, police stated.
The woman “was within the backseat crying begging Jeffery to not shoot,” police wrote within the affidavit.
Witham was convicted Wednesday at trial of two counts of kidnapping, aggravated assault, felony restraint, felony threatening, assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and endangering the welfare of a kid, amongst different prices.
A sentencing date for Witham has not but been set.
Witham has an intensive felony historical past that extends again to 1996 and consists of prior convictions on home violence prices or different crimes in Hancock, Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. The historical past consists of convictions for drug possession, housebreaking, felony threatening, stalking, assault, forgery, theft, and a number of violations of circumstances of launch and of safety orders.
Witham is also going through drug trafficking prices in reference to a separate arrest on March 9, 2022, in Verona, that are nonetheless pending in court docket.
In that case, police say they discovered Witham allegedly in possession of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine after they stopped him and one other particular person touring collectively in a automotive in Verona Island. Police then searched Witham’s home the identical day and located extra medicine and $20,000 suspected to have come from the sale of medicine, police stated on the time.
