A Smithfield man was arrested Friday after Somerset County sheriff’s officials went to his house to arrest him on a warrant from another county and he refused to come out, instead pointing a revolver at the door where they were standing, a sheriff’s official said.
Barry Wheaton, 58, was wanted by the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for two counts of gross sexual assault and that office asked Somerset officials to arrest him, according to Michael Mitchell, chief deputy of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Detective David Cole and Deputy Stacey Slate went to Wheaton’s home at 5 Mike’s Lane in Smithfield and they could see Wheaton in the home, Mitchell said. They advised him that he was under arrest, but Wheaton refused to leave the locked home. After multiple attempts to convince him to come out, Cole and Slate told Wheaton they would force entry into the residence, according to Mitchell.
Wheaton picked up a revolver from a counter and pointed it toward the front door where Slate and Cole were standing. After repeated attempts to get him to put it down and come out, Cole was able to get inside, Mitchell said.
“He was arrested without incident,” he said. “No shots were fired.”
Wheaton was arrested on the warrant from Androscoggin County. He also was charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon for the incident that occurred Friday, according to Mitchell.
Wheaton was taken to Somerset County Jail where his bail was set at $5,000 on the new charges. He is scheduled to appear July 5 in Somerset County Unified Criminal Court.
Wheaton will appear in Androscoggin County Unified Criminal Court on the alleged gross sexual assault charges, Mitchell said.
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