FARMINGTON — Police said a Kennebunk man was arrested Wednesday after a woman said he struck her and tried to strangle her while the two were on a wilderness camping trip at Stephen Phillips Memorial Preserve on Mooselookmeguntic Lake in Rangeley Plantation over the weekend.
Daniel A. Kelley, 42, of Kennebunk, was arrested Tuesday by the Kennebunk Police Department on a Franklin County warrant, Franklin County sheriff’s Lt. David Rackliffe said Thursday.
Franklin County jail transport officer Cpl. Phillip Richards arrested Kelley on Wednesday when Richards picked him up on a charge of aggravated assault and brought him to the jail in Farmington, Rackliffe said.
The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and up to a $20,000 fine.
Rackliffe said the 48-year-old southern Maine woman told Kennebunk police that the two had taken a 20-minute boat ride to a remote campsite, where they were drinking and had a disagreement. The woman said he struck her and tried to strangle her, he said.
As the woman fought him off, her arm was injured, he said.
The woman told police that at one point, Kelley took out a knife and threatened her. She was able to get the knife away and threw it into the water, Rackliffe said.
He slept in the boat and she went into the tent, staying awake all night, he said.
She rode back to Kennebunk with Kelley and when they arrived at their destination, he got out of the vehicle and she locked herself in it and called police, he said.
Kennebunk police interviewed the woman and Kelley.
Because the incident happened in Franklin County, Cpl. Nate Reid took the information collected by Kennebunk police and had an arrest warrant issued.
Kelley is being held on $5,000 cash bail at the Franklin County jail, a corrections officer said Thursday.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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