Joshua Ouellette Courtesy Photo/Sanford Police
SANFORD — An Old Orchard Beach man has been arrested and charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault and two counts of felony assault involving a 2-year-old Sanford child.
Sanford Police Lt. Matthew Gagne said the child sustained “serious but non-life-threatening injuries,” in the July 25 incident.
Police allege Joshua Ouellette, who had apparently been living in a vacant Old Orchard Beach building, is the perpetrator. The 2-year-old is the son of a woman he had been dating when the incident is alleged to have taken place.
After the initial investigation by police, who had responded to Southern Maine Health Care in Sanford, the police department’s detective division continued the probe and issued an arrest warrant for Ouellette, 24. He was taken into custody by Old Orchard Beach Police in that community on Aug. 1. Sanford Police issued a news release announcing the arrest on Aug. 17.
A Sanford Police affidavit and request for a search warrant filed at York County Superior Court in Alfred alleges Ouellette is responsible for the child’s injuries — both of his wrists were fractured. The affidavit, prepared by Sanford Police Detective Everett Allen, outlines that medical personnel have described the fractures as “non-accidental.”
The woman allegedly told police she had first met Ouellette on July 13 on Facebook, and that she had since been hanging out with him at Benton Park in Sanford and at Old Orchard Beach.
She said on July 23, her son fell out of the bottom bunk of his bed and she put him back to bed. In the morning, she told police she saw the boy had a bump on his head, bruising and a red mark on his nose.
The woman and her son then met Ouellette at Benton Park, went to a birthday party, and then returned to the park.
She told police her son was eating macaroni and cheese with his hands and alleged Ouellette put a spoon in the boy’s hand and then twisted his wrist toward his face to show him how to eat with a spoon, the affidavit states.
She said she noticed the following day that the boy’s hands, wrist, and arms were swollen and took him to SMHC, where she allegedly told medical personnel that Ouellette had broken the boy’s wrist.
Ouellette told police he had stayed at the woman’s home July 22 through July 25. He claimed he hadn’t attempted to help the boy eat with a spoon, and that he never picked him up, the affidavit states. He told police he and the child’s mother were both swinging the boy by the wrists at the beach, allegedly so the waves did not knock him over.
According to the affidavit, a July 24 video acquired by police allegedly shows Ouellette poking the boy in the face, grabbing the child’s left finger, and bending it backwards as the boy cries, bending his left wrist and later, his right wrist. A second video from July 25 allegedly shows Ouellette twisting and squeezing the boy’s right wrist. The affidavit states the boy was in pain.
According to Maine statutes, the aggravated assault charges in this case are defined as “bodily injury to another under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life,” and are Class B felonies. The assault charges in this case are defined as “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly caus(ing) bodily injury to another person who is less than 6 years of age,” and are Class C felonies.
Ouellette is being held at York County Jail in Alfred in lieu of $10,000 cash bail on the Sanford charges.
A charge is an allegation and the beginning of a process which can lead to a criminal trial.
A person convicted of a Class B felony faces a maximum of 10 years in prison; the maximum prison term for conviction on a Class C felony is five years.
Ouellette is next scheduled to appear at York County Superior Court on Dec. 7 for a status hearing, or for an arraignment if he is first indicted by a York County Grand Jury.
York County Jail Sgt. Colton Sweeney said Ouellette is also being held for Cumberland County on several charges, including domestic violence aggravated assault, domestic violence assault, assault, criminal restraint, and violating conditions of release. Bail for those charges is also $10,000.
South Portland Police Department Crime Analyst and Public Information Officer Janet Vangeli on Thursday, Aug. 18, confirmed that the agency has an open investigation regarding Ouellette but had no public information to release at that juncture.
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