BELFAST, Maine — A man who violently assaulted his brother with an exhaust pipe and threatened him with a knife last spring during a get-together after a death in the family has been sentenced to serve five years behind bars.
Steven A. Hodgdon, 48, of Troy pleaded guilty this month in Waldo County Superior Court to criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault and falsifying physical evidence. Justice Robert Murray sentenced him to five years in prison with all but nine months suspended. After he gets out of jail, Hodgdon will spend three years on probation.
According to a police report filed after the March 12 incident, Hodgdon had gotten into a fight with his brother when they got together after the death of another sibling. A woman who also was at the residence told police that there was bad blood between the two brothers, who had not spoken for two years. She said the men had been drinking together when the two began arguing and then started to scuffle in the kitchen.
According to the report filed by Sgt. James Greeley of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office, the woman said that Hodgdon grabbed a knife and held it to his brother’s throat. She also said that the fight migrated to the mud room area of the house, and Hodgdon picked up a 2-foot-long piece of exhaust pipe and used it to strike his brother in the back of the head.
The officers got the brother to go to the hospital for treatment, but initially could not find Hodgdon to arrest him. He turned himself in a couple of days later, and the court set bail at $50,000 cash.
During Hodgdon’s years of probation, he will be subjected to random search and testing for alcohol, drugs, firearms or other dangerous weapons. He must pay $75 in restitution and will be prohibited from contacting the victim.