AUGUSTA — A city man has been charged by police after reportedly attempting to strangle his girlfriend’s teenage son during an argument about a bag of chips.
Glenn M. Bartlett, 31, was arrested Sunday and charged with aggravated assault. Bartlett was being held Monday at the Kennebec County jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail. Conditions of Bartlett’s release prohibit him from having contact with the victim, his mother or his sister.
The 14-year-old teen, who was bleeding from the left side of his neck and had marks around his neck, was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, where he was treated and released, according to an affidavit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court by Augusta police Officer Nathan Walker.
Police notified the Department of Health and Human Services.
The teen’s mother, Crystal Fisher, called police around 9:45 p.m. Sunday to report her son was missing. Moments later the teen called police to report that Bartlett, Fisher’s boyfriend, had assaulted him.
When police found the teen on York Street, he said he had walked away from his mother’s apartment at 101 Mount Vernon Ave. after arguing with her. The boy said that during that argument, “Glenn grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against the wall and eventually to the floor,” Walker said.
The teen’s 12-year-old sister told police that she and her brother were eating chips in the apartment when Bartlett accused them of arguing. Bartlett took away the children’s computers and the boy, upset by Bartlett’s punishment, tried to leave the apartment to calm down.
Fisher tried to prevent the boy from leaving, at which point Bartlett grabbed the teen and threw him to the ground, Walker said. The teenage girl saw “spit coming from (her brother’s) mouth as if he could not breathe,” according to Walker’s affidavit.
“I also spoke with Crystal, who advised me of the same story … with the exception that she stated that she did not think (her son) was ‘hurt that bad,’” Walker wrote.
Craig Crosby — 621-5642
ccrosby@centralmaine.com
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