ROCKLAND, Maine — A 48-year-old Rockland man who served time in prison for stabbing a man to death is back behind bars after police say he broke into a neighbor’s apartment, beat the man and threatened to kill him.
Alton Cobb was arrested Saturday night and charged with aggravated criminal trespass, assault, domestic violence terrorizing, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal mischief. He was taken to the Knox County Jail in Rockland and ordered held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail.
Cobb was convicted of manslaughter in 1996 in connection with the December 1994 stabbing death of 27-year-old David Ouellette at a Waterville apartment. Cobb was originally charged with murder but pleaded to the lesser offense of manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
That stabbing occurred when Cobb got upset during a night of card playing and drinking.
According to an affidavit filed Monday in Knox County Unified Court by the Rockland Police Department in regard to the latest incident, police said a woman had gone to a neighbor’s apartment at Park Place apartments to use his telephone to call 911 because Cobb was being unruly at their apartment. She reported that Cobb had climbed through the window of their apartment and was making a lot of noise, and when she asked him to quiet down because their 4-year-old child was asleep, he threatened to hit her, according to the affidavit.
Cobb then went to the neighboring apartment where the woman had gone, kicked in the air conditioner, went through that window and attacked the resident, according to the affidavit. Cobb repeatedly punched the man in the face as he held him down on the floor, according to Rockland police.
At Cobb’s initial appearance Monday afternoon in Knox County Unified Court, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Fernald asked that bail be increased from the $5,000 bail imposed by a bail commissioner to $25,000 cash.
“He presents a significant public safety risk,” Fernald told Judge Susan Sparaco.
The prosecutor also pointed out that in addition to the 1996 manslaughter conviction, Cobb twice violated probation in 2007 upon his release from prison. One of these violations consisted of threatening a police officer, Fernald said.
Defense attorney Kim Richardson asked for much lower bail, stating that Cobb’s wife and child live in the area, that he has lived in Maine all his life, has not committed any crimes in nearly 10 years, and volunteers at the Salvation Army. She said he would agree to report to the Rockland Police Department on a daily basis if he was released.
Sparaco, however, kept bail at $5,000 and said if Cobb can raise the bail, he must report daily to Rockland police and must stay away from Park Place apartments.