SKOWHEGAN — A judge issued a warrant for the arrest of a Pittston man found guilty of stalking the Kennebec County sheriff after the man failed to appear in court for his sentencing.

Nicholas Worthing, 37, found guilty of one Class C count of stalking following a bench trial in March, was set to be sentenced at 11 a.m. at the Skowhegan District Court.

But a few minutes after the top of the hour, Worthing was still not in the courtroom.

District Judge Andrew Benson initially issued a warrant for Worthing’s failure to appear, setting bail at $100,000 cash.

Soon after, Benson returned to the courtroom and re-issued the warrant with no bail, citing a further review of Maine’s bail code and discussion in his chambers with the attorneys for both sides.

Benson said he would not entertain proceeding with the sentencing Friday even if Worthing showed up to court later in the morning.

Worthing’s court-appointed attorney, Ryan Rutledge of the Skowhegan law firm Mills, Shay, Lexier & Talbot, told Benson he had notified Worthing of Friday’s proceeding and could not provide a reason on Worthing’s behalf about why he was not in court.

Friday’s events marked the latest twist in a case that has continued through the court system for nearly four years and has raised First Amendment issues.

The case centered on a Facebook account Worthing used to send direct messages to the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page from January 2017 to March 2021.

At trial, prosecutors presented dozens of profanity-filled messages that Worthing sent to the page. Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason had testified at trial that he does not run the page himself. His wife, who is not a Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office employee, and a sheriff’s office staff member ran it, he testified.

Many messages claimed Mason and other law enforcement officers had molested children, a claim that Mason denied on the witness stand.

In his verdict, Benson highlighted several messages in which Worthing threatened to murder police officers and act violently toward their families as communication that crossed the line of free speech.

Benson delivered his guilty verdict in early May, finding that Worthing intentionally or knowingly engaged in a course of conduct; that the conduct was directed at Mason; that some of his statements were “true threats” not protected by the First Amendment; and that Worthing was reckless in making the threatening statements. Benson also found that Worthing’s prior convictions satisfied the requirements of the Class C level stalking charge.

Rutledge, Worthing’s attorney, had framed the case both during the March trial and in a written closing argument around how the First Amendment applies in a 21st century society.

Following his verdict May 7, Benson let Worthing continue to walk free on his previously posted bail until sentencing. Prosecutors objected at the time.

Mason said via email then that he respected Benson’s decision, but was concerned that Worthing was free on post-conviction bail before sentencing, “as his threats of violence in the past remain concerning.”

Mason, his wife Joanne, and Maeghan Maloney, the district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties, were in the courtroom gallery Friday. Two game wardens in uniform were also in attendance.

After the brief proceeding Friday, Mason and his wife were guided out of the courthouse by judicial marshals.

The case has been moving along in court after Worthing was arrested in August 2021. He previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor-level stalking of a state trooper in 2018.

Worthing went through various attempts to get two stalking charges on a 2021 indictment dismissed based on legal issues similar to those Rutledge raised at trial, court records show.

Prosecutors dropped a more severe Class B stalking count on the indictment last year, according to court records. They also agreed to move the case out of Kennebec County to Somerset County, which is within the same prosecutorial district, after initially objecting to Worthing’s request to change venue in 2023.

Worthing also has gone through nearly a dozen court-appointed defense lawyers over the course of the case, despite a stern warning from a judge that he was at risk of losing his right to counsel.

That judge, Superior Court Chief Justice Robert E. Mullen, called the case’s history “somewhat complicated and problematic” in one of his orders appointing an attorney for Worthing.