Camp Modin has had problems with its neighbor Nathan Hewett for years. But after Hewett allegedly fired about 20 shots near the summer camp after an altercation with its security guards earlier this month, the camp is seeking a protection order.
Pascal Cohen, owner and executive director of Camp Modin, a Jewish summer camp in Belgrade, wrote in his complaint seeking a protection order that Hewett intentionally tries to create disturbances to the camp with the lights from his truck and late-night fireworks, and often fires his guns nearby, distressing campers.
“Especially when he is intoxicated,” Black wrote. “He harasses us by coming to the property line and screaming at us.”
On Aug. 7, Hewett, 36, allegedly fired a semi-automatic rifle near Camp Modin. The camp was occupied by at least 400 campers and staff members at the time of the incident. No one was injured. The camp went into lockdown and the camp’s security guards put on their body armor and readied their own weapons.
After Kennebec County sheriff’s deputies responded, Hewitt was arrested on charges of reckless conduct with a firearm, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, terrorizing with a dangerous weapon, and discharging a firearm near a dwelling.
Hewett was initially held on $50,000 bail, but he has since been released. Under the conditions of his bail, he is barred from being within 1,000 feet of the camp’s property and the property from which he allegedly fired his gun. He is also banned from accessing dangerous weapons and using alcohol.
Camp Modin is no longer in session.
Camp officials are requesting a protection from harassment order, which would temporarily block Hewett from camp premises and from having any contact with camp personnel.
Joshua Ewing, an armed security guard at the camp and former law enforcement officer, stated in court documents seeking the protection order that Hewett and Hewett’s father, Raymond, who is also a neighbor of the camp, approached the camp on the evening of Aug. 7 and began yelling, asking to speak with a camp employee. They said the younger Hewett had hit something with his tractor lawn mower, which had damaged it, and blamed the damage on the camp.
In court documents, Ewing said he and fellow security guard Timothy Black calmed Raymond Hewett down and had a reasonable conversation with him, while Nathan Hewett started yelling and swearing. Ewing described Nathan Hewett as “extremely enraged and irrational.” Ewing said in his statement that Hewett’s father said he thought Nathan Hewett was dangerous.
Shortly after Nathan Hewett left the site of the confrontation, Ewing and Black heard shots being fired from a high-powered rifle, according to court documents. Ewing and Black put the camp in lockdown when deputies arrived.
Deputy Tyler Johnson stated in his affidavit for probable cause that Nathan Hewett was under suspicion of using alcohol during the incident and of having an antisemitic bias.
Black stated in court documents that Nathan Hewett complained in early July about the noise level of the campers. According to the document, Nathan Hewett “made a comment to the effect of ‘he has things on his property that are really loud too.’”
Law enforcement officers seized 23 firearms from Hewett’s property following the incident, many of which were semi-automatic. Shell casings found suggested some of the bullets fired may have been directed at a basketball court near the back of the camp, according to a news release issued by the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office.
The hearing on the camp’s request for a protection order is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 31 at the Capital Judicial Center. Hewett’s next court date on the charges will be Nov. 10.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Abigail Pritchard can be reached at apritchard@centralmaine.com.