AUGUSTA — A Windsor man who fled police first in a car and then on foot when they approached his residence to search it for allegedly stolen drugs pleaded guilty Tuesday to five charges.
Wesley A. Glidden, 35, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to eluding an officer and trafficking in prison contraband, both of which are felonies, and misdemeanor charges of unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, operating after suspension and assault.
Those crimes took place in February. A neighbor of Glidden reported he came to his home, beat him up and stole some drugs from him, according to Tracy McCarthy, an assistant district attorney. Police obtained a search warrant and, as state troopers went to Glidden’s Windsor residence to search it, he got into a vehicle and drove off.
Cpl. Bethany Robinson pursued him, lights and sirens flashing in her cruiser, with other police also joining what McCarthy said was a high-speed chase that ended in Whitefield.
Robinson rammed Glidden’s vehicle with her cruiser, disabling his and causing hers to spin into a snowbank. Robinson was treated for bumps and bruises at Inland Hospital and released that night.
Glidden ran into the woods, but police caught him 10 minutes later. He was taken to the Kennebec County jail, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
McCarthy said that during the jail intake process, the drug suboxone was found in Glidden’s wallet, leading to the trafficking in prison contraband charge. Police also found what McCarthy said was either cocaine or heroin in his car.
“The defendant admitted he was glad he got caught and said he has a severe addiction,” McCarthy said.
Glidden said he’s had a drug problem since he was 15 years old.
“I just hope I get the opportunity to get some help for my drug problem” in prison, Glidden told Judge Eric Walker on Tuesday.
Walker urged him to get help for his addiction in prison and to also seek to go, before he is released, to a prerelease center in Belfast. He said officials there could help Glidden find a job, a place to live, and treatment services “before you ever walk out the door, so it wouldn’t simply be the door opens and you walk out alone. So you won’t be back in this spiral.”
“I think at some point you just have to make a decision that ‘I don’t want to waste the rest of the days I have,'” Walker said to Glidden. “You have to come to grips that you have a medical issue, and it needs to be treated. It’d be a shame to waste the rest of your life behind bars, so I wish you the best.”
Glidden’s attorney, Lisa Whittier, asked Walker to suspend some of the fines and fees her client will have to pay after he’s released from prison.
“Mr. Glidden owes a considerable amount of restitution and is going to be incarcerated for three years,” she said. “His prospects for employment are somewhat grim, as a felon.”
Walker agreed only to require Glidden to pay a $500 fine on one of the charges, waiving the rest, which together could have exceeded $1,000,. With fees, however, he’s expected to owe a total of $745.
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