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March 10, 2010

Waterville man sentenced for drunken assault

By Betty Adams badams@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- A Waterville man pleaded guilty Tuesday to beating up his girlfriend in front of a 5-year-old.

Arturo E. Cota, 25, pleaded guilty in Kennebec County Superior Court to charges of aggravated assault, domestic violence terrorizing and violating conditions of release.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with all but 28 months suspended and three years' probation. Conditions of probation ban him from contact with the victim, who attended Tuesday's court session.

District Attorney Evert Fowle said Cota has been banned from being in Waterville and Winslow during probation.

"The assault was serious enough to warrant a significant sentence to the Department of Corrections," Fowle said. "The only mitigating factor was the fact he had no record."

Cota's attorney, Scott Gurney, said Cota apologized in court.

"Mr. Cota said again how sorry he was," Gurney said. "This was an aberration.... He has been a member of the National Guard and was a member when this happened."

The sentence was recommended jointly by the prosecution and defense.

Cota was arrested after police were called to the family's Waterville apartment early on May 7, 2009.

They reported finding a woman with severe facial injuries including a broken nose, a missing front tooth and a swollen right eye, cheeks and forehead.

According to police, the couple earlier had been drinking and inhaling cylinders containing nitrous oxide. They said Cota became enraged and started beating his girlfriend after she said she wanted to stop drinking and go to bed. Waterville police said at the time that the couple's five-year-old child witnessed the attack. Both that child and a young baby were sent to a relative's home and police contacted the Department of Health and Human Services.

In unrelated cases, also sentenced Tuesday in Kennebec County Superior Court:

* Bryan C. Gower, 18, of Canaan, burglary and theft Nov. 25, 2009; three years in jail, all but 60 days suspended, two years' probation.

* John Poulin, 46, of Winslow, unlawful drug possession Dec. 6, 2009, in Vassalboro; 364-day suspended sentence, one year probation, $400 fine.

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