SKOWHEGAN — A former longtime Anson town official pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual touching in a deal with prosecutors that will spare him from jail if he complies with his probation conditions.

Arnold P. Luce, 69, of Anson, pleaded guilty to the Class D misdemeanor Thursday at the Somerset County Superior Court, according to court records.

In exchange, prosecutors dismissed a Class D assault charge.

Per a negotiated plea agreement, Luce was sentenced to 180 days in county jail, all of which was suspended, and one year of probation, court records show.

Superior Court Chief Justice Robert E. Mullen accepted the deal.

District Attorney Maeghan Maloney, the elected top prosecutor for Kennebec and Somerset counties, said the victim approved of the agreement.

“She was glad that he accepted responsibility,” Maloney wrote in an email.

An emailed message to Luce’s attorney, Rosswell Fichthorn, was not returned Tuesday. 

Under the conditions of his probation, Luce must complete a sexual offender evaluation and follow any recommendations, court records show. He must also have no contact with the victim, listed in court records as a 30-year-old woman.

If he is found to have violated those conditions, a judge could order Luce to serve some or all of the suspended jail sentence.

The assault charge had alleged that Luce intentionally, knowingly or recklessly caused bodily injury or offensive physical contact to a woman in Embden on Aug. 6, 2025.

The unlawful sexual touching charge says Luce intentionally subjected the same woman to sexual touching to which she did not consent on the same date, also in Embden.

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

Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster announced in August 2025 his office had charged Luce with assault.

Prosecutors later added the sexual touching charge, and Luce initially pleaded not guilty to both counts at his arraignment in November. He had since been free on personal recognizance.

On Aug. 7, 2025, Deputy Stacey Slate responded to a complaint from a woman who reported a potential sexual offense, Lancaster said previously. Slate’s investigation found that an incident leading to the assault charge happened the day before at Luce’s Meat Market on Embden Pond Road in North Anson, near the Embden town line.

Luce, who was chairman of the Board of Selectmen at the time, resigned from that office Aug. 10, although it is not clear if the criminal investigation prompted him to do so. Slate issued him a summons two days later, according to Lancaster.

Luce did not state a reason for his decision to step down in his resignation letter, which was read aloud at a select board meeting the same day Slate issued the summons. Nancy Gove, at the time Anson’s administrative assistant, treasurer and tax collector, said Luce told her he resigned his post for personal reasons, not because of anything related to town business.

Luce served on the board for decades; newspaper archives indicate voters first elected him in 1994.

In 2010, Luce pleaded no contest to a Class D assault charge and paid a $750 fine, the Morning Sentinel reported. Luce had been accused of touching a woman’s buttocks while at his meat processing business.

In that case, Luce was initially charged with unlawful sexual touching of the female employee. Prosecutors dismissed that charge in exchange for the assault charge, saying at the time that Luce’s intent was unclear, so the language in the assault statute better fit the offense.