March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Alleged kidnapper denied bail> District attorney fears man will contact victim

MILLINOCKET — If ever there were a case in which bail should be denied, Richard Edgar Allard’s case was it, said a District Court judge sitting Wednesday in Millinocket District Court.

Judge Jessie Gunther denied bail for the 25-year-old Guilford man who has been charged with kidnapping his former girlfriend Angela Alfonso, 19, of Abbot at gunpoint early Monday. He also has been charged with burglary and violation of conditions of release in connection with the incident.

“Each of these are serious criminal offenses,” said Gunther.

Dressed in prison-orange clothing, Allard was silent during his initial court appearance. David Gray of Bangor, his court-appointed attorney, said he would investigate an appeal to a higher court for reconsideration of bail. Gray said Allard is indigent and his previous bail is still appropriate.

After Wednesday’s hearing, Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said he was gratified that the judge denied bail for Allard. “I just think that there wasn’t any other way to prevent him from having contact with this victim other than keeping him in jail,” he said.

The alleged abduction that occurred earlier this week took place while Allard was out on bail on two separate felony charges that allegedly involved Alfonso.

On Jan. 5, Allard was arrested in connection with a charge of wiretapping the telephone in the Wharff Road home of Alfonso’s parents in Guilford. He was charged with invasion of privacy, burglary and criminal mischief. Allard was released from jail after paying bail of $1,000. Part of his condition of release was that he have no contact with Alfonso or her parents.

About a week later, Allard reportedly tried to reach Alfonso by telephone and left Christmas gifts with a friend to give to her. He was arrested again and charged with violation of probation. He produced a cash bail of $250 and was released the day after his arrest, again with the same condition, that he have no contact with Alfonso or her family.

Prosecutor Almy told the court that he had filed a motion in Dover-Foxcroft District Court to revoke Allard’s bail on these pending cases.

Allard’s latest brush with the law started early Monday morning when police say the armed man broke into the Abbot home of Linda Anderson, where his former girlfriend was living. Alfonso, who awoke about 6 a.m. to find Allard in the house, ran screaming into the bedroom of Anderson’s 14-year-old son, Roy Anderson.

Sgt. Robert Young of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department said Allard, who was armed with a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun, remained in Anderson’s home for about an hour before ordering Alfonso to leave with him in her black Pontiac Grand Am. Police, who said Allard had cut the telephone line to the house, were notified after Roy Anderson ran to a neighbor’s home and called his mother, who notified police. A search was initiated for the pair.

The hunt by police ended about 17 hours later when Allard allowed Alfonso to call her mother from a small railroad crew shed in Brownville Junction. Her mother notified police of their whereabouts. After Alfonso attempted to escape a couple of times, Allard eventually let her leave, police said. She fled in her vehicle to Dover-Foxcroft, where police intercepted her.

Police arrested Allard, who had been hiding in the railroad shed, at 10:45 p.m. He did not resist arrest nor was he holding a gun, police said. The gun had been hidden inside the building and was not loaded, according to Young.

Allard was wearing a fanny pack full of shotgun shells, according to Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin.

The earlier cases pending against Allard were set for a March 9 hearing, but the new cases against him will be combined with the others and an earlier hearing date is expected.


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