ROCKLAND — The father of a 3-year-old boy whose death last month resulted in a murder charge against the boy’s mother was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison for a series of offenses, two of which he committed while his son was with him.
Andrew Williams was sentenced in Knox County Superior Court to a combined six years in prison with all but 18 months suspended. He will be on probation for three years upon his release from prison.
The most serious of the 15 offenses he was sentenced for were a residential burglary and theft, and a possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
None of the crimes is connected to the death of his son, Maddox Williams. Jessica Williams has been charged with depraved indifference murder in Maddox’s death.
Andrew Williams was arrested Jan. 28, 2020, on a charge that he broke into a home and began stealing items while carrying Maddox, who was 2-years-old at the time. He was charged with burglary, felony theft, endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of unlawful possession of drugs.
According to police, a tenant reported that he was working upstairs just before noon when he heard what sounded like an infant crying or screaming. He then received a phone call from a neighbor who reported that there was a man outside his apartment with his golf clubs.
The tenant went downstairs and the man, later identified as Williams, was in his dining room holding a child and an armload of the tenant’s belongings, according to an affidavit filed by Rockland police in the Knox County court.
The tenant confronted Williams and he offered different reasons for being there, including he was told there was an open house at the apartment and he was looking for an apartment. Williams also said he thought he heard someone say “come in” and later said his son opened the door after hearing a dog barking inside.
Williams also told officers his caseworker told him about the apartment, then identified his case worker as “Pablo Escobar,” a notorious Columbian drug kingpin in the 1970s and 1980s.
Justice Jeffrey Hjelm told Williams at the sentencing that breaking into a home is extremely distressing to the victim.
Williams was released on bail after the charges were filed but was arrested in Warren on March 7 for operating under the influence of drugs. He was driving while intoxicated with two children, including Maddox, in the vehicle. The arresting officer noted in the police report that Maddox only had one shoe on and it was on his wrong foot.
Williams was released on bail that evening.
On March 18, he was arrested again for possessing a firearm by a prohibited person and illegal hunting in Warren.
He has been held in jail since that arrest.
Hjelm rejected a request by Williams’ attorney, Steven Peterson, to allow Williams to be released to attend Maddox’s funeral. Judge Geoffrey Rushlau rejected a similar request a week earlier. Hjelm pointed out that the jail administration could allow him to attend, but that was the administration’s decision.
Maddox Williams died June 20, after his mother brought him to Waldo General Hospital in Belfast, police said. An autopsy revealed the child had multiple bruises and abrasions – some partially healed – as well as missing teeth, internal bleeding in his abdomen and a fractured spine.
Jessica Williams, 35, of Stockton Springs, who also goes by the name Jessica Trefethen, was arrested June 23. Superior Court Justice Robert Murray set her bail at $150,000 cash.
Her next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 28, although that may change if she is indicted by a grand jury prior to that hearing.
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