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Five charged with May 24 robbery

BY AMY CALDER Staff Writer

BY AMY CALDER

Staff Writer

Five people face robbery charges after they allegedly met a man at a Waterville bar May 24, drove him to Clinton, dumped him in a ditch and stole $1,800 cash from him.

Richard Horton, 35, of Dorchester, Mass., David James, 23, of Mattapan, Mass., Michelle Hutchins, 30, of Canaan, Kendra M. Totten, 21, of Augusta and Shannan N. Santerre, 25, of Canaan, appeared for the first time Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta.

Horton, James and Hutchins remained in Kennebec County Jail in Augusta Tuesday evening; Santerre and Totten were released Monday on $2,500 unsecured bail each, a jail spokesman said Tuesday.

All five were charged with robbery Saturday after State Police Trooper Rick Moody found and interviewed them at a trailer in Canaan.

Moody investigated the case over several days. His affidavit, filed with the court Saturday, says Christopher Rosenbloom, 58, of Benton, called State Police May 24 from a cell phone and said he had been beaten and robbed by people he met at the Bob-In restaurant and lounge on Temple Street in Waterville.

Rosenbloom told police he was calling from the ditch in which he was beaten and that he was bleeding, felt faint and did not know where he was.

He said the people he met and socialized with at the Bob-In said they would give him a ride home to Benton; while they were in a vehicle, two men started punching him, the affidavit states. They stopped the vehicle, pulled him out and continued to beat him, he said. He lost consciousness during the beating and woke up in a ditch, his wallet with $1,800 missing, according to the affidavit. Rosenbloom said he was intoxicated and could not remember details of the vehicle in which he was riding. He was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Waterville.

Moody contacted Bob-In owner Gubby Karter, who allowed him and Rosenbloom to view a video surveillance tape showing Rosenbloom socializing with two men and three women at the Bob-In on May 24. Rosenbloom said he was positive they were the ones who robbed him, according to the affidavit.

Rosenbloom told Moody he received 10 stitches to his forehead and suffered a possible broken left wrist, a bruise on the top of his head and several scratches and bruises on his back.

"Rosenbloom had a brace on his left wrist and a black (bruised around the eye socket) left eye," the affidavit says.

Moody drove to Hutchins' last known address on Nelson Hill Road in Canaan, not far from where the robbery occurred. Her father said she was at a trailer park on Hill Road so Moody headed there, the affidavit says. On the way, a blue sedan with three men inside was traveling toward Moody's cruiser in the center of the road and he stopped the car.

He noticed that a man in the passenger seat strongly resembled a man in the Bob-In video so he asked him to step out of the vehicle so he could speak to him. The man, David James, was cooperative and complied, the affidavit says. Moody asked him if he had been at the Bob-In over the weekend. At first, James started to deny it but when Moody told him he had seen him in the video, he admitted to being there, the affidavit states.

"James was then asked who was with him because the two men in the vehicle were not at the Bob-In. He then advised that it was 'Madface' and that he didn't know his real name," the affidavit says. "He then advised me that Madface (later identified as Horton) was back at Hutchins' trailer."

Moody arrested James.

James said three women knew about the money; he identified Totten, his girlfriend, as one of the three.

Moody stopped at Hutchins' trailer and she at first denied the allegations.

"Hutchins stated that she didn't know that the victim was being assaulted and stopped on the side of the road to urinate and that was when (Rosenbloom) must have got out. I then advised her that $1,800 was reported stolen from (Rosenbloom) after being assaulted. Hutchins advised that she was pretty intoxicated that night and that the money was all spent," the report says.

Moody then spoke with Totten, Horton and Santerre separately and they all denied knowing about the robbery and beating incident.

"I did observe what appeared to be marks on the knuckles of Horton," the affidavit says. "I asked him how he cut his hand and he advised that they were old scratches."

But James told Moody that Horton and all three women were involved and they had shared the money. At that point Moody asked for assistance from troopers Bruce Scott and John Brown. Then Santerre, Hutchins, Horton and Totten were arrested.