Hartland man jailed after incident

HARTLAND – What reportedly began as a family game of croquet went awry Monday night when a 16-year-old boy allegedly was assaulted, the family home was set on fire and one man ended up in police custody.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Department would not provide details about the incident on Monday. At the scene, on Crosby Street in Hartland, Deputy David Cole said information would be released today by Detective Lt. Carl Gottardi.

Lt. Matthew Cunningham confirmed that the man taken into custody and removed from the scene was Andrew Fox III, 32. He would not say what Fox was charged with and referred all questions to Gottardi.

According to a large group of neighbors who had gathered in the street near the fire scene, Fox had been playing croquet with his wife and her 16-year-old son when a fight erupted between the two males. The neighbors would not provide their names because they said they were afraid of Fox.

Donna Simonds, who identified herself as a close friend of Fox’s wife, said that when Andrew Fox lost the game he turned on his stepson and punched him in the head. The teenager and his mother fled from their home on the dead-end road to a nearby neighbor’s house and called police, she said.

The assault was reported around 6 p.m. and when deputies arrived, Andrew Fox reportedly barricaded himself in the mobile home and threatened to burn it down.

Shortly afterward, the neighbors said, they could hear the smoke alarms going off inside and when several deputies and Maine state troopers arrived, they advanced on the trailer with guns drawn.

The neighbors said they watched as police dragged Fox from behind the mobile home and placed him in handcuffs.

Firefighters from St. Albans and Hartland battled the fire, which heavily burned one end of the mobile home. No other buildings were damaged, despite there being several other trailers close to the Fox home.

Deputy David Cole said the State Fire Marshal’s Office had been called and was expected to examine the mobile home late Monday.

Simonds said that the trailer belonged to Fox’s wife and that she was not insured.

Simonds said Fox was able to rescue a mother cat and kittens from the home but was unsure of the fate of other cats, hamsters, rabbits and fish that were inside.

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