AUGUSTA — Early in May, Malcolm Robert Moore was determined to get out of the state psychiatric hospital and into prison.
He got his wish shortly after assaulting a mental health worker and hitting him repeatedly in the head.
Moore, 41, of Augusta, who had been living at Riverview Psychiatric Center, first threw a cup of ginger ale on the 53-year-old worker, who then attempted to restrain Moore. The video recordings show Moore placing the worker in a headlock and then striking him in the head, according to an affidavit by Capitol Police Officer Jeff Belanger. The victim was treated for minor injuries at MaineGeneral Medical Center, Belanger noted.
Belanger also reported that Moore threatened to “continue to hit people until he is taken to prison,” and that it was latest in a series of reported assaults by Moore on Riverview personnel.
Moore was taken to Kennebec County jail in Augusta, where he was held in lieu of $1,000 cash bail.
A report in the file at the Capital Judicial Center states that Moore was accused of punching a staff member and stabbing him with his pen on April 28 and other assaults March 15 and 19. It does not appear those incidents resulted in criminal charges because there is no record of any pending charges against Moore at the courthouse.
On Wednesday, Moore pleaded guilty to the May 3 assault and was sentenced to 105 days in jail, which is the time he had been held on the charge. He also was fined $300.
Moore was then returned to Riverview.
Moore previously was put in the custody of the commissioner of the Department of Health & Human Services in 2012 and placed at Riverview after being found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease for stabbing a man in the abdomen with a four-inch blade. The two men had rooms in the same apartment building in Augusta.
During that court case, the judge read a report by a forensic psychologist who noted Moore had been diagnosed by multiple providers with paranoid schizophrenia and had been in outpatient treatment for about five years. The psychologist concluded it was unlikely that Moore was taking his prescribed medication when the stabbing incident occurred.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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