By: Carol Robinson

Authorities are search for a 31-year-old man wanted on kidnapping and domestic violence.

The Andalusia Police Department is asking for the public’s help in finding Nicholas Shane Conner. He is charged with domestic violence/strangulation, kidnapping and interference with a domestic violence emergency call.

According to Central Alabama Crime Stoppers, Conner is known to have family in the Montgomery area and has lived in Centre. He may be traveling on a red and black Hyosung GD 250R motorcycle or in a red 2017 Ford F-150.

Connor is 6-feet, 1-inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Andalusia police at 334-222-1155 or Crime Stoppers’ 24-hour tip line at 334-215-STOP (7867) or via the P3-tips app.

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By: Jackie Mundry

By: Giacomo Luca

Denis Bugreyev was arrested and released on $0 bail four times in the weeks before he was suspected of nearly stabbing a woman to death, according to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.

The 25-year-old West Sacramento man had been released on probation in late August for a prior felony assault conviction, said Melinda Aiello, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney with the Yolo County DA’s Office. He has since been denied bail due to the serious and most recent criminal allegations against him which include attempted murder.

The Yolo DA’s Office said Bugreyev was released due to the $0 bail policy adopted by the Yolo County Superior Court in June, a policy the Yolo DA’s office has been critical of, saying it poses a risk to public safety.

“It’s a get out of jail free card,” Aeillo said. “There’s no real risk assessment done and there’s no consequences because they’re not even brought back to court for four to five months.”

In efforts to keep jail populations down to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Judicial Council of California (JCC) adopted an emergency bail schedule in April 2020. The policy included a $0 bail for people accused of lower-level crimes. The $0 bail policy resulted in California’s jail’s reducing their populations by more than 20,000 people, according to the JCC.

The JCC rescinded that emergency bail schedule in June, but the Yolo County Superior Court decided to keep the policy in place.

“We believe that the current Bail Schedule is working well here in Yolo County and as a matter of public health, we should stay the course,” said Judge Samuel T. McAdam in a June statement. He is the presiding judge of the Yolo County Superior Court. “It is not lost on the Judges that while state and federal prisons and some jails throughout California have been hotspots of COVID-19 outbreaks, we have so far avoided it here. The Yolo legal community is safe, and because of that we have a fully operational courthouse where we can provide fair and timely justice.”

Yolo County’s emergency bail schedule does allow an arresting officer to request for a judge to set or enhance bail, officials with the Yolo Superior Court wrote in a June statement. This may occur if a suspect has multiple pending cases or if the person is on probation.

Between April 13, 2020 and August 31, 2020, 266 individuals were released a total of 305 times on $0 bail in Yolo County, according to the Yolo County DA’s Office. Of those released, 83 people were “rearrested” a total of 335 times after being released on $0 bail in the same county during the same time period.

While the Yolo County DA’s Office is asking for the $0 bail policy to be reconsidered, there are advocates who support it like Stephen Munkelt, Executive Director of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a criminal defendant advocacy organization.

“The presumption is that people should have their liberty until they’re convicted,” Munkelt said.

He says $0 bail policies do not create a significant risk to the community or disadvantage to the legal system when more people are released before their trial. He says a small percentage of people fail to show up to court or commit a new crime while they’re released on bail. He says the loss of employment and family ties while a person is held in jail awaiting trial are detrimental to communities.

“We need to be releasing more people and be much more careful about who we can’t trust to be in the community while they’re case is happening,” Munkelt said

Yolo County’s emergency bail schedule is currently set to remain in effect for the entirety of the COVID-19 State of Emergency.

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By: David Marino Jr.

A man involved in a domestic violence case who caused a standoff on Presque Isle’s Main Street earlier in the month is being held without bail after his initial court appearance.

Corey Alexander, 42, of Bowdoinham faces seven charges and up to 23 years in prison after allegedly threatening officers with a knife as they tried to apprehend him for entering his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in violation of bail conditions.

Alexander’s actions resulted in an eight-hour standoff that ended with the Maine State Police Tactical Team arresting him without incident. Alexander’s initial court appearance was on Sept. 8, at Maine District Court in Presque Isle, where bail was denied. His arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 16.

The standoff was one of the most high-profile police incidents in Presque Isle’s recent history.

Alexander’s ex-girlfriend walked into the Presque Isle Police Department headquarters at 1:13 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4, to report that Alexander had allegedly been sending her harassing text messages and frequently calling her, according to court records. Alexander had been charged with domestic violence terrorizing on Aug. 20, before being let out on bail.

Alexander had allegedly texted the victim 373 times and called her 115 times since mid-August, violating his bail conditions, according to court records. Several of the messages were threatening, including Alexander allegedly telling his victim that “someone is going to end up getting hurt when I get up there,” referring to the woman’s apartment.

Alexander also allegedly said he had violated his bail conditions and implied that he was prepared to die if the police tried to stop him from entering the woman’s apartment.

“If the cops are called, I will have a weapon on me too,” Alexander allegedly wrote in a text. “So, I am going to look good in a body bag.”

Earlier that day, Alexander had sent the ex-girlfriend several messages indicating he would be at her apartment that day. The victim — who works in the St. John Valley — said a neighbor told her that Alexander entered her apartment while she was at work. She gave police the key to the apartment and asked them to check inside before she went home.

At 1:49 p.m., five officers from Presque Isle Police went to the woman’s apartment on South Street. Three officers approached the door, while two stayed behind.

As officers unlocked the door, Alexander began yelling on the other side of the doorway. When police moved back, Alexander allegedly displayed a large knife through the window, and “made it clear” he wasn’t coming out, according to a report from a Presque Isle Police officer. Another officer said that Alexander allegedly yelled for the officers to shoot him.

Presque Isle Police evacuated nearby streets and businesses, including McDonald’s and Kelley’s Laundromat. Nearby sections of Main Street were at a standstill.

A Presque Isle Police officer spoke to Alexander over the phone at some point during the standoff. Alexander requested to speak to the victim and allegedly told police that he would kill himself or attempt to force police to kill him if officers entered the apartment.

The Maine State Political Tactical Team took over a few hours into the standoff, and Alexander surrendered without incident around 9:13 p.m.

Alexander was transported to Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital to be medically cleared for incarceration. He allegedly became increasingly agitated there, kicking at bedding and threatening officers. He relaxed after being given undisclosed medication by medical staff and remained quiet during the ride to Aroostook County Jail in Houlton, police said.

Two items have been placed into evidence according to court documents: a white and silver fixed-blade knife and a black and silver kitchen knife, both owned by Alexander. While the victim had told police Alexander owned a shotgun, it was not found at the scene, court records show.

Alexander faces up to 23 years in prison if convicted, though actual time served rarely meets sentencing maximums. Three of the charges are felonies: burglary, violation of conditions of release and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon. Four are misdemeanors: refusal to submit to arrest, a second violating conditions of release charge, causing a police standoff and domestic violence terrorizing.

Alexander is being held at Aroostook County Jail in Houlton without bail. His attorney is Jeffrey Pickering of Houlton.

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By: Lori Comstock

SUPERIOR COURT — Although a judge sentenced a Hopatcong man who admitted to strangling his girlfriend to the plea deal agreed upon by the state and the man’s attorney — 120 days in the county jail on the condition of five years of probation — he expressed qualms about doing so.

Judge William J. McGovern III noted that each year, he is mandated to take certain training sessions as a criminal court judge, and among them are seminars dealing with all types of violence.

“One of those requirements … are seminars dealing with individuals who have engaged in physical violence toward other people by way of strangulation,” he said, as he stressed, “It is considered one of the most serious forms of aggravated assault.”

McGovern reluctantly handed down the sentence to Richard Keim, 29, who appeared in court after pleading guilty on July 11 to third-degree aggravated assault, a domestic violence charge.

The judge gave Keim a stern warning: “If anybody had any question in their mind why Judge McGovern seems so aggravated today, that is one of the reasons why. So, Mr. Keim, you are on my radar, and if you screw up (and accrue other charges), God help you, you are going to state prison.”

Keim, who has been detained to the county jail since his May 25 arrest, will be released from the county jail on or about Sept. 22 since he has accrued 105 days of jail credits as of Friday.

Keim was initially charged with third-degree aggravated assault, third-degree terroristic threats and third-degree burglary, but the charges of terroristic threats and burglary were dismissed as part of the plea.

Hopatcong police were called on May 25 to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, whose name is being withheld due to the nature of the charges, for an assault.

The affidavit states that Keim and his girlfriend, who had been dating for “about a month,” got into an argument before she told him to leave the house.

Keim left, but quickly found his way back into the home through a bedroom window that he forced open, the affidavit states.

Once inside, Keim threw the victim to the floor, where she crashed into a lamp and struck her right elbow on the baseboard vent. Keim then “grabbed the victim, threw her on the bed and took his left hand and strangled the victim, cutting off her air supply,” the affidavit states.

His girlfriend told police that while struggling for air, she saw Keim cock his right hand back in preparation to strike her, but he was stopped “by a friend who reached through the window.”

According to police, the victim suffered injuries to her arm, she complained of jaw pain and had a red mark around her throat but refused medical treatment.

The plea deal did not call for no contact between the victim and Keim, according to Assistant Prosecutor Nikoletta Agouras.

Agouras noted that Keim’s girlfriend, who was expected to appear in court on Friday but failed to do so, did not want to file a temporary restraining order and did not want to request a no-contact provision against Keim.

In addition, Keim’s attorney, Shaun Russell, said the victim was allowing Keim to come back to the apartment upon his release from jail.

McGovern, however, stated he was “troubled” by the case and imposed a no-contact provision, mandating Keim not even contact the victim on social media.

“The victim is not here but was planning to be here. As a judge I wonder why. The victim never sought a domestic restraining order; I wonder why,” he said. “I don’t know the depth of their relationship, but what I do know is that Mr. Keim has some serious issues.”

Additional details about Keim’s substance abuse and criminal history were also divulged during Friday’s hearing.

During an interview with a probation officer prior to sentencing, Keim admitted he uses heroin up to 15 times a day, uses cocaine once a week, drinks two pints of gin daily, and uses marijuana once in a while, Agouras said.

Agouras said Keim has at least four burglary charges, dating back to 2008 where he received state prison time.

In defense of the plea agreement, Agouras said the state “took into consideration the victim’s desires as well as all of the factors that came into play during this aggravated assault.”

Due to the nature of the charges, Keim will not be able to possess weapons or firearms.

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