SKOWHEGAN — A man accused of threatening a stranger with a firearm in the parking lot of an Athens store Thursday took the weapon into the store and left it on a counter before driving away, according to court records released Friday.

Kerry Stevens, 57, of Norridgewock, is charged with terrorizing with a firearm and disorderly conduct, according to court records. He entered no plea to the charges in Skowhegan District Court on Friday.

Stevens was making lewd comments and using profanity in the Athens Corner Store around 2 p.m. Thursday when another customer, Russell Cormier, told him he shouldn’t be talking like that in a public place, according to a police affidavit filed by deputy Eugene Cole of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department.

Cormier, of Wellington, who the affadavit said doesn’t know Stevens, left, but returned to the store later and saw Stevens sitting in his car, a green Suzuki SUV.

Stevens opened the car door, reached between the driver’s seat and console, and pulled out a gun with a yellow stripe on the butt. He showed Cormier the gun and made a lewd gesture, according to the affidavit.

Cormier was frightened and shaking, according to the affadavit, afraid he might get shot and quickly drove off.

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Store employees told police that Stevens brought the gun into the store, put it on a counter and told a store clerk that the gun wasn’t his and that it belonged to the store’s owner, Steven Jewell Sr., according to the affidavit.

Stevens then left the store without the gun.

The clerk, Bridget Dellarma, locked the gun in her car and called 911.

The gun does not belong to Jewell, according to the affadavit.

Cormier could not be reached for comment. Jewell said he had no comment, and Dellarma did not return a call for comment.

Police found Stevens in his car on East Madison Road in Madison Thursday afternoon, according to Dale Lancaster, chief deputy for the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department. There were six .22-caliber shell casings on the floor of the SUV, according to the affidavit.

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Stevens was taken to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, where he was evaluated, released and transferred to the Somerset County Jail, said Lancaster.

He is being held at the Somerset County Jail on $1,000 cash bail and is scheduled to appear at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 19 in Skowhegan District Court. If he makes bail, he will be under house arrest and not allowed to leave his home except for legal and medical appointments, according to court records.

He is not allowed to enter the Athens Corner Store or have contact with Cormier.

Rachel Ohm— 612-2368rohm@centralmaine.com

 


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