ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Hancock County man who fled Maine after getting into a roadside scuffle with a Maine State Police trooper five years ago was ordered by a judge Wednesday to serve two years in prison after having his probation partially revoked.
Joey R. Ouellette, 38, was extradited last fall back to Maine from Hawaii, where he had fled after avoiding capture in 2013 by allegedly using the trooper’s pepper spray to aid in his escape.
Ouellette was on probation in September 2013 when Sgt. Alden Bustard pulled him over on Route 1 in Steuben for allegedly driving a motorcycle at 127 mph. Ouellette is accused of getting into a scuffle with Bustard, grabbing the officer’s pepper spray, and spraying him with it before running off into the woods.
An ensuing search for Ouellette in the area involving an airplane, tracking dogs, state troopers and state game wardens came up empty.
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At the time, Ouellette was on probation for a 2010 conviction for unlawful trafficking in oxycodone. He had received a sentence of three years in prison on that conviction, but it was fully suspended and he was placed on two years probation, according to court records.
He already had his probation partially revoked in 2011 for failing to report an accident by the quickest means, driving to endanger and domestic violence threatening.
Ouellette’s defense attorney, William Ashe of Ellsworth, said Wednesday that Ouellette could have been sent to prison for three years to serve the full sentence on his 2010 drug trafficking conviction.
Ouellette’s probation officer, Sam Payson, told Justice Robert Murray in court on Wednesday that he supported sending Ouellette to prison for two years rather than the full three because, prior to the roadside altercation, Ouellette had been doing relatively well on probation.
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Outside the courtroom Ashe added that his client, whose driver’s license police say was under suspension at the time of his escape, still faces charges in Washington County stemming from the 2013 incident. He said Ouellette does not want to plead guilty to the charge of spraying Bustard with the pepper spray because he contends that though he did wrest the spray canister away from the officer, he did not discharge it at him.
Ashe said that any additional time Ouellette may have to spend behind bars as a result of the pending charges in Washington County is not expected to be significant and could end up being served simultaneously with the two-year term he was sentenced to serve on Wednesday.
Ouellette is expected to make a court appearance in Machias on Jan. 22 on the Washington County charges.
