FARMINGTON — A Wilton man pleaded guilty Thursday to throwing a Molotov cocktail toward three men as he drove by a home in Jay last summer.
Benjamin York, 19, and Kahner Dee, 19, both of Jay, and Juan Colon, 23, of Livermore Falls chased Jason White, 44, to Wilton, and struck him with a club on June 30, 2014, according to officials.
On Thursday, White pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon in Franklin County Superior Court. He waived indictment on the charge.
If the matter had gone to trial, witnesses would have testified that White threw a glass bottle with a rag in it out of his vehicle toward the three men as he passed their residence, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Robinson said. The men were not injured by the flames, he said. The men pursued White and assaulted him, Robinson said.
Witnesses would have also testified that York, Dee and Colon had taken White’s money, he said.
Justice Michaela Murphy asked Robinson what the dispute was over.
Robinson said he believed it was the purchase of marijuana.
Murphy accepted the plea and a one-year agreement that delays sentencing on the charge. The agreement sets conditions White must meet within the year, including undergoing counseling. If he meets the conditions, Murphy said he will be allowed to withdraw his plea to the felony charge and plead to a misdemeanor charge.
If things don’t go well, she said, White faces up to five years in prison.
He is scheduled to return to court Feb. 30, 2015.
York, Dee and Colon pleaded guilty to vairous assault charges last year.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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