A Connecticut man who served nearly 20 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a woman was arrested in Maine last week after he allegedly violating his probation for a third time.
Henry Brackett, 58, of Old Town, Maine, and New Britain, Connecticut, faces federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, according to the Maine State Police. He faces drug charges as well.
Brackett was wanted by authorities in Connecticut for allegedly violating his parole within days of his release from a Connecticut halfway house, the state police said.
A member of the U.S. Marshals Service Maine Violent Offenders Task Force about 3:15 p.m. spotted Brackett’s gray Chevy Malibu on the Maine Turnpike. With assistance from state troopers, task force members stopped Brackett near the York-Ogunquit townline.
A stolen handgun was found in the Chevy’s center console, as well as half a pound of marijuana, according to the state police.
Brackett is being held without bail at the York County Jail in Alfred, pending his extradition to Connecticut.
In 1994, Brackett kidnapped a woman he met outside a Connecticut bar and took her to Hopeville State Park, where he raped her, according to the Norwich News Bulletin. He was sentenced in 1995 to 24 years in prison in that case. He was released in March 2014, the News Bulletin reports.
At the time, Brackett was on probation following a six-year sentence for raping a Norwich woman in 1988, the News Bulletin reports. Prior to that, he was accused of sexually assaulting an inmate at the Montville Correctional Center in 1985 and served two years for a 1983 rape at Hopeville Pond, according to the News Bulletin.
Brackett has previously violated his probation from the 1995 conviction twice — in 2014 by making an unwanted sexual advance at a resident of the January Center, a rehabilitation center for sex offenders at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center, and in 2016 by working for a tattoo artist without a license, by having sex with a woman believed to be a prostitute and by failing a drug test, the News Bulletin reports.
If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.