AUGUSTA — An Auburn woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of escape for running off from a jail work detail last spring.

Nicole M. Dyment, 20, who has a history of stealing vehicles, had been working on a landscaping project on April 17, 2016, just outside the jail, as part of her participation in the Criminogenic Addiction Recovery Academy.

Dyment entered her plea at the Capital Judicial Center and was sentenced to nine months in jail, and she was given credit for the nine months she already had served.

Her attorney, David Geller, noted that Dyment tried to plead guilty in December, but the proceeding was stopped when there were concerns about whether she was mentally competent to enter a plea.

She was evaluated by the State Forensic Service and determined to be competent.

On Tuesday, Justice William Stokes asked Dyment a series of questions, repeating a number of them, to ensure she understood what she was doing.

Dyment said she was taking medication that slowed her response time, but she understood the proceedings.

Geller said Dyment appeared to understand much better than she had at the December hearing.

Assistant District Attorney Tyler LeClair told the judge the offense was committed when Dyment and 11 other women were doing yard work and Dyment did not want to continue.

He said she was yelling and swearing and started to run off.

Sgt. Joel Eldridge, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, yelled at her to stop and eventually caught her.

Dyment, previously of Auburn, had been put into the Kennebec County program as a result of a deferred disposition arrangement to resolve charges brought against her in southern Maine.

David Bobrow, the attorney who represented her at a hearing in Springvale District Court, said Dyment pleaded guilty to two sets of misdemeanor charges, and the sentencing was continued on those matters, with conditions that permitted a bed-to-bed transfer into the CARA program.

Dyment had been charged with stealing a vehicle in February 2016 from a man who left it running while he went into a restaurant to pick up food.

Before that, in December 2015, Dyment was charged in connection with crashing a stolen Angry Orchard delivery truck into the side of a barn in Limerick. Police at the time said the vehicle had been stolen in Portland. Dyment told police she was drunk and high on heroin.

Records on the state Department of Corrections website indicate Dyment remains on probation for a Cumberland County theft conviction.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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