March 29, 2024
Archive

Rockland man charged in assault, $15,000 theft

ROCKLAND – An 18-year-old Rockland man was arrested after police say he assaulted another man and made off with $15,000 in cash.

Ricky Coffin was arrested on Dec. 21 by Rockland police, who say he and another man attacked David Bates, 43, of Rockland.

Coffin was charged with aggravated assault, theft and robbery, which, according to an affidavit filed in 6th District Court in Rockland, occurred on Nov. 19.

Coffin was released on $30,000 unsecured bail. He will make an initial appearance in court on Feb. 5.

The robbery was reported by Bates on Nov. 19 while he was being treated at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport for injuries he said he suffered during the attack.

According to the affidavit, filed by Rockland Detective Christopher Young, Bates said he and his father, Francis Bates, had withdrawn $15,000 from an account at KeyBank earlier that day. David Bates said the money was his, but was kept in his father’s bank account. The younger Bates told Young that he planned to pay off some bills and purchase a car.

After withdrawing the money, David Bates stopped at a Summer Street residence to look at a car that was for sale there. Bates told police he left without buying the car, but saw several men there, some of whom he knew.

While bicycling around town later that day, he encountered two men he had met earlier at the Summer Street residence. The men had been introduced to him as Ricky and Astin or Ashley. Bates said he mentioned at the residence that he was paying off bills that day.

In a statement he made to police, Bates said the two men said they were from out of town and needed directions to various addresses around town. Bates showed the men around that afternoon.

At one point, the three men took a short-cut through the woods from Pleasant Street, and when they entered the woods, “Astin struck Bates in the side of the head with a closed fist,” the affidavit stated.

Coffin then struck Bates over the head with a pipe, Bates reported, and the two men demanded the cash. Bates gave them the money and they left, he told police.

In his statement, Bates said, “I fell to my knees, looked up and saw Ricky with a 2- or 3-foot piece of pipe. Ricky struck me in the top of the head. I fell to the ground and kept my hands over my head, while I was getting kicked.”

Bates said the men repeatedly demanded the money and said they would kill him.

Young reported in the affidavit that Bates needed several staples in his scalp to close the wound he received. He was released from the hospital later that evening.

The affidavit suggests that Bates related different parts of the events of Nov. 19 in the days after the alleged attack. It also notes that Bates did not pick out Coffin’s photo from a photo line-up.

Bates told police at one point that his head injury made it difficult for him to remember and describe the events of that day.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like