Man receives 2 years for burglary, threats

ELLSWORTH – A convicted felon who was a no-show on Monday in Hancock County Superior Court appeared Tuesday and was sentenced to serve two years behind bars, according to a local prosecutor.

Ralph Desantis, 43, of Blue Hill was facing charges of gross sexual assault, criminal threatening and reckless conduct in connection with separate attacks on two women in 1998 and 2003.

Desantis, in a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of burglary to commit gross sexual assault and criminal threatening, according to Hancock County Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett.

Desantis was sentenced to five years with all but two years suspended on the burglary charge and to four years with all but two years suspended on the threatening charge, Kellett said Tuesday. He will serve three years of probation upon his release from prison, she said.

Desantis had been charged with gross sexual assault for attacking an Orland woman in her home in 1998. He also was facing criminal charges for accosting another woman outside a Bucksport business last year, holding a gun to her head and threatening to kill her.

Kellett said Tuesday’s plea agreement was acceptable to the victims in each case. She said Desantis served five years in jail in New Jersey as a result of a 1983 manslaughter conviction.

Desantis said he did not appear Monday in court because of a misunderstanding with his defense attorney, according to Kellett.