BANGOR, Maine — A Cutler man awaiting sentencing on charges in connection with the death of a Millinocket teacher last year in a head-on crash on Route 9 in Eddington denied Wednesday that he had violated his bail.
Scott Ramsdell, 44, pleaded guilty in March to manslaughter and aggravated operating under the influence of intoxicants. Ramsdell was released after entering his pleas on personal recognizance bail with strict conditions that include living with his wife in Machias, abiding by a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, not using illegal drugs or alcohol and checking in daily with a caseworker from Volunteers of America.
Ramsdell is accused of not telling his caseworker that he had contact with Bangor police, that he had moved and that he had been given a prescription for a narcotic painkiller.
Superior Court Justice Ann Murray ordered that he be held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail until a revocation hearing is held on Aug. 18. Ramsdell is to be sentenced on the manslaughter and drunken driving charges that same day.
Ramsdell was released on post-conviction bail so he could have surgery on his legs but has not had the operations, Marianne Lynch, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, said Wednesday.
Ramsdell’s plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but 27 months suspended followed by two years of probation. Four other charges, driving to endanger and three counts of stealing drugs, will be dropped when Ramsdell is sentenced.
It was unclear Wednesday what impact a conviction on the bail violation, a Class E crime punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, would have on that agreement.
Ramsdell faced up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 on the manslaughter charge alone.
By pleading guilty, Ramsdell admitted that he was under the influence of methadone and other drugs when he crossed the centerline at about 6 a.m. Jan. 27, 2014, on Route 9 and struck a car driven by Denise Golding, 47, of Eddington. Golding died in the ambulance en route to Eastern Maine Medical Center, according to a previously published report.
Golding was on her way to meet a colleague with whom she car pooled to Millinocket, Lynch said Friday. Ramsdell was traveling from Bangor, where he had gotten his methadone dose at a local clinic, to District Court in Machias, where he was to appear on a domestic violence assault charge.
Ramsdell got his methadone dose about 35 minutes before the accident, the prosecutor said. His methadone dose was increased 43 percent over the nine days prior to crash.
A single mother of four grown children, Golding taught English as a second language to Chinese students at Stearns Junior/Senior High School. She had bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Maine in Orono.