A Solon man accused of two sexual assaults and illegally possessing firearms used pepper spray on the detectives during his arrest and search of his home Friday, police affidavits state.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office investigators deployed Taser weapons and detained Matthew Cooley, 40, records show.

Chief Deputy Mike Mitchell said Monday it’s rare for someone to pepper-spray law enforcement officers. Cooley’s alleged attack happened in a “fraction of a fraction of a second,” leaving detectives with little time to react.

Cooley is charged with two Class A counts of gross sexual assault, one Class B count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and one Class D count of domestic violence stalking, court records state. For the scuffle with detectives, Cooley is charged with two Class C counts of assault on an officer and one Class D count of refusing to submit to arrest.

Cooley was being held at the Somerset County Jail in Madison on two sets of bail as of midday Monday, jail records show, at $100,000 and $50,000, respectively. He was due to make an initial in-custody appearance Monday at the Skowhegan District Court, when a judge would be expected to review bail.

Cooley was not expected to enter any pleas during that proceeding because the Class A, B and C offenses are felony-level charges, so prosecutors must first seek a grand jury indictment. No attorney information for Cooley was listed in court records ahead of the court appearance.

Detectives went to Cooley’s home on Abnaki Road in Solon on Friday to arrest him on a warrant issued in the sexual assault case, Det. Sgt. Ronnie Blodgett wrote in an affidavit filed in court.

When Blodgett told Cooley the sheriff’s office had also obtained a search warrant for the home, Cooley took Mace pepper spray out of his truck and sprayed Blodgett and Det. David Cole in the face, the affidavit states.

Blodgett deployed his Taser, but Cooley continued to spray him, the affidavit states. Cole retrieved his own Taser from his vehicle and deployed it on Cooley, allowing them to take him into custody.

Neither detective sustained injuries beyond the temporary effects of the spray, Mitchell said.

The sheriff’s office began investigating Cooley earlier this month following a complaint from a 31-year-old woman, according to an affidavit filed by Det. Jeremy Leal of the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office.

The Morning Sentinel does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaults without their permission.

Among her complaints, the woman alleged two instances of sexual assault in November 2025 and February, both at Cooley’s home in Solon, according to Leal’s affidavit.

Det. Leal had the woman secretly record a phone call with Cooley in an attempt to get him to admit to his actions and apologize. Such a technique, known as a pretext phone call, is used regularly in criminal investigations in states such as Maine where recording a phone call with the permission of only one party is generally legal.

In the phone call, Cooley did not deny much of what the woman was saying, according to the affidavit. Det. Leal later spoke with Cooley at his home, and he denied the allegations, the affidavit says.

The woman also provided Leal with videos and photos appearing to show multiple firearms and hundreds of boxes of ammunition in Cooley’s home, Det. Leal wrote in his affidavit. Police records indicated Cooley was a convicted felon, so he could not legally possess firearms, the affidavit says.

The search warrant for his home was for the firearms, and detectives seized “numerous firearms and many, many rounds of ammunition” after the scuffle with him, Blodgett wrote in his affidavit.

The woman who reported Cooley told Det. Leal that Cooley was a “gun freak” and “would not go down without a fight” if police tried to arrest him.