AUGUSTA — A Connecticut man who tried to flee from Waterville police in Augusta 2020 was sentenced Friday to serve 18 months in jail on multiple charges.
Shelvonn Jones, 44, of Waterbury, Connecticut, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of eluding an officer, and misdemeanor charges of speeding more than 30 mph over the speed limit, and refusing to submit to arrest or detention, at the Capital Judicial Center.
He was sentenced to 18 months, with none of that sentence suspended, to be served at Kennebec County jail where he has already spent the last several months after being arrested last August.
Shannon Flaherty, an assistant district attorney, said the state agreed to dismiss some of the charges against Jones in part because he could have several years of imprisonment facing him in Connecticut once he is released from jail in Maine. She said he was on parole there for a robbery charge and had come to Maine after cutting off an ankle monitor he was required to wear as part of being on parole.
Flaherty said if Jones’ case had gone to trial, Waterville police would testify that around 10 p.m. Aug. 14, an officer sought to pull over a 2005 Honda Accord on Main Street with a plate light out, and the vehicle didn’t stop when he turned on his cruiser’s blue lights and siren.
The chase continued on multiple streets downtown and on the south side of the city, and police said at the time Jones tried to run police cruisers off the road three times, though officers were able to maneuver out of the way.
At one point in the chase another man got out of the car on the passenger side and fled into the woods, Flaherty said.
The chase continued, reaching speeds up to 100 miles per hour, before Jones eventually drove off an Interstate 95 ramp and into a ditch. He fled on foot. An officer shot a taser at him that failed to make contact, allowing him to temporarily escape into the brush. A Maine State Police dog handler was nearby, and the canine was deployed and it located, and bit, Jones, who was then arrested.
Superior Court Justice Bruce Mallonee asked Jones what he did for work, to which he responded that he used to work for a swimming pool company. Mallonee also asked about his family, including his mother whom Jones said has Alzheimer’s, and said Jones already has a “terrible record, it sounds like, and this is going to make it worse.”
Mallonee said a goal of criminal court is to not just punish someone for their crime, but also help them get their lives straightened out. He also acknowledged it is depressing that “we don’t really have any tools available to us to be able to accomplish that. I hope when you get out you are able to live a more productive life and not endanger people the way you did here.”
Other charges, including reckless conduct; operating under the influence; failure to stop, remain and provide information; and attaching false plates were dismissed.
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