ALFRED — A Waterboro man was ordered Monday to serve 54 months of a 13-year sentence for stabbing another man at a party in 2017.
Vincent Cole, 27, also was ordered to serve four years of probation following his release and pay $2,000 in restitution to the victim.
Cole pleaded guilty in December to seven charges in four separate incidents from July 2017 through November 2018, including the Class A felony elevated aggravated assault charge stemming from the stabbing. In all, 10 charges, from driving to endanger to assault, were dismissed.
Cole appeared in York County Superior Court on Monday in an orange jail jumpsuit, flanked by attorneys Darren Locke and Randa Capponi. He declined to make a statement when Judge Jeffrey Moskowitz asked if he had anything to say.
Cole had been asked to leave a party on Landry Drive by the homeowner but resisted, York County Sheriff William King said in a release after the July 7, 2017, stabbing. Cole apparently threatened several people before stabbing a man identified only as a guest at a nearby lake house who came to the scene after hearing screams.
Cole ran into the woods, but was apprehended.
At the time, King said that Cole had first assaulted the property owner and another man who intervened, including with an aluminum pipe, before running outside, and that was when the stabbing took place.
Cole received the same sentence, to run concurrently, on a charge of criminal threatening with dangerous weapon. Several other charges in connection with that incident, including a second count of criminal threatening, aggravated assault, criminal mischief and two assault counts were dismissed.
He was sentenced to serve two six-month jail terms, to run concurrently with the initial sentence, for violating conditions of release and refusing to submit to arrest in connection with an incident in August of that year, when he bailed out of the car he was driving after violating a curfew imposed by a judge. Charges of driving to endanger and failing to stop for an officer were dismissed.
Cole originally had been charged by deputies with endangering the welfare of a child – they alleged he used a child as a shield before submitting to arrest – but that charge did not move forward. The lawyer representing Cole at his initial court hearing following the incident said Cole had left the home to cool off, knew he was going to jail and he tried to hug his daughter.
Maine State Police described Cole as a “violent felon” when they put out the word they were looking for him in May 2018 in connection with a number of outstanding warrants. He turned himself in to Buxton Police less than 24 hours later. He pleaded guilty in December to two counts of violating conditions of release; and was sentenced Monday to two six-month prison terms, concurrent with the initial sentence. An assault charge was dismissed.
In November, Cole, who was in custody at York County Jail, was charged with Class C felony trafficking in Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid addiction. He pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced Monday to six months, also concurrent with the 54-month sentence.
Two other charges stemming from a fifth incident were dismissed earlier, Moskowitz said. No further information was available.
The judge ordered Cole to pay the $2,000 in restitution by his 27th month of probation.
Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or at:
twells@journaltribune.com.
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