BANGOR, Maine — A local man charged in connection with the abduction last year of his former girlfriend was sentenced Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to 13 years in prison with all but 2 ½ years suspended in a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office.
In addition to prison time, District Court Judge Gregory Campbell sentenced Roger Eldridge, 49, of Bangor, to five years of probation.
Eldridge was scheduled to be sentenced in August but told the judge that he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea. Campbell was to hear arguments on that motion Thursday but through his attorney, Hunter Tzovarras of Bangor, Eldridge said he wanted to “take advantage” of the offer made by Michael Roberts, deputy district attorney for Penobscot County, and be sentenced.
He was indicted in January on one count each of gross sexual assault, kidnapping and assault. If Eldridge had withdrawn his pleas, he would have been tried on all three charges. The assault charges were dismissed at sentencing because of the plea agreement.
Eldridge pleaded guilty May 7 to kidnapping and domestic violence stalking as his jury trial was about to begin. He entered Alford pleas, according to Tzovarras. This type of plea — named for the U.S. Supreme Court case North Carolina v. Alford, decided in 1970 — is “a guilty plea that a defendant enters as part of a plea bargain, without actually admitting guilt,” according to Black’s Law Dictionary.
Eldridge has been held since his arrest on Oct. 29 at the Penobscot County Jail unable to post $30,000 cash bail. That time will count toward his prison term.
He faced up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 on the Class A kidnapping charge alone.