AUBURN — A Skowhegan man on Monday was sentenced to five years in prison on a charge stemming from a police chase that ended when he crashed his car into a vehicle driven by a pregnant woman.
Glen Witham, 40, is serving time at Maine State Prison for theft.
He pleaded guilty in Androscoggin County Superior Court to a count of aggravated assault. That charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A judge sentenced him to five years, but suspended two years. Once he’s released from prison, Witham will be placed on probation for two years.
Witham also was sentenced to two years for eluding an officer and one year for passing a roadblock. Both of those sentences are to be served at the same time as the assault charge.
Witham also was ordered to pay $14,896.90 in restitution to various victims.
Witham has been in prison in Warren serving one year of a two-year sentence on a theft charge.
The sentence imposed Monday on Witham is connected to a May 12 crash in which the car he was driving slammed into an SUV driven by a 27-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant.
The car Witham was driving flipped off the road. The pregnant woman escaped without life-threatening injuries. Witham was hospitalized in critical condition before eventually being jailed.
On the day of his crash, his legal problems had been mounting.
Witham had been told to report to Androscoggin County Jail within three days of an unsuccessful appeal on an unrelated crime. When he didn’t show up, a warrant for his arrest was issued.
A charge of failure to appear in court was dismissed Monday.
Meanwhile, a deputy at the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department was investigating stolen laptop computers. Deputy Maurice Drouin suspected Witham committed the thefts and arranged to meet with him during an online correspondence.
Witham had allegedly bought computers at local stores and billed an acquaintance at an address different from his own. One of the computer sellers helped pinpoint its whereabouts through tracking software built into the device.
Witham had posted for sale an item on Craigslist, a popular website for classified advertising. Drouin set up a meeting in May with Witham to discuss the purchase of the item. It appears Witham was spooked and drove off as Drouin approached.
Beginning in Greene, Witham raced up Route 202 through Monmouth into Winthrop in a Dodge Stratus, police said.
Witham managed to avoid spike mats at two roadblocks before the chase ended with a crash.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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