Medford man arrested in harassment

MEDFORD – A North Road resident was arrested in a case of alleged harassment Tuesday after police forced their way into his barricaded mobile home.

Jason Tucker, 36, who also was charged with creating a police standoff, is being held at Piscataquis County Jail in Dover-Foxcroft. His bail was set at $500 cash.

Tucker allegedly had been harassing his neighbors for a couple of months and had been warned to stop, but he continued with his unusual behavior, Lt. Robert Young of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday. Tucker allegedly would go onto his neighbors’ property wearing a mask and would beat sticks against their trees and mailbox, and would scream nonstop outside their home, Young said. Because Tucker did not stop the harassment, an arrest warrant was issued, he said.

“When we went to get him, he was barricaded in his trailer but he never had any firearms,” Young said. “He refused to come out and refused to talk with us.”

After deputies tried for about three hours without success to get Tucker to come out of his home, officers forced their way inside and took Tucker into custody, Young said. He said the five officers arrived at the scene at about 9 a.m. and it was about 12:20 p.m. when Tucker was taken into custody.

“The doors were barricaded in different ways. The one we ended up going [through] had a big padlock and then on the inside had rope that had been tied up and netting that made it difficult to get in,” Young said.

There appeared to be no personal problem between Tucker and his neighbor, Young said. “There hadn’t been any issues as far as the neighbors were concerned, there were no disputes,” he said.

“Our position whenever we have these kind of circumstances is to try not to make things worse, to try to work with people so they understand that they are under arrest and they do have to come out and meet with us,” Young said. “We spend a lot of time in trying to talk people into cooperating. Physically going into a residence such as that is a last resort.”

It is unknown when Tucker will make his initial court appearance in 13th District Court in Dover-Foxcroft.

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