AUBURN — A Lewiston man police say is tied to the slaying of Romeo Parent pleaded not guilty to a felony charge Tuesday after being brought back to Maine.

Sebastian Moody, 22, of 135 Bartlett St. was found last week in Beverly, Mass., where he was working at a carnival.

Moody waived extradition and was returned to Maine by Maine State Police on Friday.

In Androscoggin County Superior Court on Tuesday, Moody denied the charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. He was indicted on the charge by an Androscoggin County grand jury in May.

A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Police said Moody fled Maine in April, around the time of the killing of Parent, 20, of Lewiston, who was strangled and stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver.

Last week, the Beverly Foundation Carnival was setting up at the local high school, preparing to offer rides and games through the weekend. Moody got work there, according to Robert Gates, an editor at the Beverly Patch, but Moody hadn’t counted on a law that requires the carnival to turn their employee manifest over to police.

When the local police did a background check, they found that Moody was wanted. On Thursday afternoon, he was arrested.

On Tuesday, a judge ordered bail for Moody to remain at $25,000 and ordered that he have no contact with others implicated in Parent’s slaying. He also was required to have no weapons and to not leave the state if he were to make bail.

According to an affidavit filed by Maine State Police Detective Randall Keaten, Moody implicated Michael McNaughton, 25, of Lewiston in Parent’s killing, telling a friend that McNaughton had strangled Parent with a wire cable in a wooded area in Greene and that it had taken him six tries before Parent died. Moody told his friend that Parent’s remains were in a dumpster, in a river or even out of state, according to Keaten’s affidavit.

Parent’s remains were eventually recovered in a river in Monmouth.

Moody said another friend, William True Jr., 19, of Lewiston, was taking the fall for Parent’s killing because “he was smart like that and knew that the evidence would save him,” according to the affidavit. True was charged in the case with hindering apprehension or prosecution. He has pleaded not guilty.

Moody’s case was joined with that of McNaughton and Nathan Morton, 24, of Greene, who also is charged with murder in Parent’s slaying.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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