AUGUSTA — Two men accused of holding a man overnight against his will inside a Chelsea home reportedly beat the man with a gun and threatened to slash him with a knife in response to being robbed of $25,000.

The details were released in court documents Friday after Ricardo David Perry, 18, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., and Eugene Charleston, 19, of Manhattan, N.Y., made their initial court appearance via teleconference in Augusta District Court. Perry and Charleston are each charged with kidnapping, a class A felony, and aggravated assault, a class B felony.

Judge Beth Dobson ordered each of the men held on $50,000 cash or $25,000 cash if they are able to secure a Maine Pre-trial Contract.

Bail conditions for both men include a prohibition from using substances or having weapons, and neither can have contact with the alleged victim. The men must be at home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. each day.

Both men were arrested Wednesday morning after 23-year-old Ryan Partridge sent a text message to his mother asking her to call 911 because he was being held against his will at 9 Hankerson Road, according to a court affidavit filed by State Police Trooper Greg Stevens.

State Trooper Jon Leach went to the address and reached Partridge on his cellphone and urged him to run from the house if he could.

Stevens wrote that Leach was in his cruiser as Partridge ran out with two men in pursuit.

The two men, Perry and Charleston, and the homeowner, Ricky Mansir, were taken into custody, Stevens wrote. Mansir did not appear in court Friday. It is unclear if he has been charged.

Partridge, who wasn’t hurt, told police he knows Perry and Charleston from “doing drugs,” Stevens wrote. Partridge described the men as friends. He said he was “hanging around” with Perry, Charleston and Mansir at Mansir’s home around 10 p.m. Tuesday when another friend “used pepper spray on all of them and stole $25,000 from Ricardo and Eugene and left,” Stevens wrote. That person wasn’t identified by police.

“They decided to keep Ryan there until they got their money back,” Stevens wrote. “Ryan said they were using both cellphones and put one of the cellphone on speaker and a male subject said he was going to be coming there to put a bullet in him. He was also told there were going to be four or five guys coming to take him to New York to kill him.”

Perry and Charleston allegedly used duct tape to secure Partridge to a chair and hit him in the face.

When the tape broke, Mansir told the men where to find rope.

Investigators removed a chair with duct tape and were seen inspecting a length of rope as they removed evidence from the home on Wednesday.

Stevens’ report said Perry and Charleston attacked Partridge, forced him upstairs, tied him to a chair and hit him in the head with a semiautomatic .22-caliber Ruger handgun. He said Perry “picked up a steak knife and asked Ryan where did he want to get stabbed first.”

Charleston and Perry eventually fell asleep and Partridge managed to get an arm free to text his mother. He later took the call from Leach.

During Friday’s hearing, Assistant District Attorney Kristin Murray-James asked for $100,000 cash bail for both men because of the seriousness of the crimes and the potential for both of the out-of-state residents to flee Maine.

Perry said if freed on bail he would live with a friend in Litchfield.

Attorney Thomas Tilton, who represented Charleston during the hearing, requested $3,000 cash bail.

He said his client has no criminal history and has worked with a youth corps in recent summers. Tilton denied that his client uses drugs or alcohol.

Tilton said that $100,000 “might as well be no bail at all.”

“It’s an unreasonable request in our opinion.”

Charleston said he is not a flight risk because he has moved to Maine to “get away from the city.”

He said he has been living with his “Uncle Ricky,” whom Charleston described as an uncle who helped raise him.

“What’s Ricky’s last name?” Dobson asked, at which point Charleston quickly shuffled through the court documents in front of him for several moments before finally answering “Mansir.”

“I’ve known him since I was 5 years old,” Charleston said.

Murray-James refuted Charleston’s claim of Maine residency.

“The fact is he’s from New York,” she said. “In light of the charges, we ask for very high cash bail.”

Craig Crosby — 621-5642
ccrosby@mainetoday.com

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