AUBURN — One of five men charged with crimes in last year’s slaying of 20-year-old Romeo Parent was sentenced Thursday to time served.

Sebastian Moody, 23, of Lewiston pleaded guilty in November to a charge of falsifying physical evidence, a Class D misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail. Moody served 107 days in jail since his arrest last summer and was sentenced Thursday to time served.

A felony charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution was dropped. Moody had been released on his own recognizance. He was barred from having contact with three of the other four men charged in connection with Parent’s slaying. In all, three of the men had told friends or acquaintances that they had killed Parent.

Moody had testified in Androscoggin County Superior Court in July at the murder trial of Michael McNaughton, 26, of Lewiston. McNaughton was convicted after a three-week trial.

During the fourth day of the trial, Moody and Christopher Belanger, also of Lewiston, said McNaughton told them he killed Parent using a homemade garrote and also stabbed Parent with a screwdriver.

Belanger and Moody also said the screwdriver was dubbed “pokey thingy” while the garrote, made from a bicycle brake cable and a pair of wooden dowels, was called “chokey.”

Moody had pleaded guilty earlier this year to helping dispose of evidence from the crime scene, including the garrote and clothing that McNaughton may have been wearing.

Moody had acknowledged at trial that he had changed his story several times in various interviews with police.

“I was in fear of the same fate as Romeo got,” Moody said. The apparent motive for Parent’s slaying was “snitching” to police.

Eric Leighton, 19, of Auburn testified at trial that Moody had confessed to him that he had killed Parent.

Leighton told a jury that Moody had described how McNaughton had killed Parent and that McNaughton, who was in the same room, hadn’t denied it.

Leighton testified that he had run into Moody at a teen drop-in center in Lewiston and the two had gone outside for a cigarette. Leighton told Moody what William True, who has also been charged with murder in this case, had told him about killing Parent. Moody told Leighton how “they” had used a cord to strangle Parent. Moody told Leighton that he had killed Parent, then changed his story to say that a “hit man” had killed Parent, Leighton said at trial under cross-examination.

Moody took Leighton to a Lewiston apartment on Bartlett Street where McNaughton had been visiting. Moody described Parent’s murder, and McNaughton circled a chair in which Leighton sat while he questioned him.

Leighton said he was concerned about his safety. He later met with police detectives to share with them what had transpired at the Bartlett Street apartment.

He was later “jumped” on a bridge by Moody, who assaulted him and told him to “watch out,” according to trial testimony.

In July 2013, authorities had been seeking Moody on a warrant after an Androscoggin County grand jury indicted him on the felony charge of hindering apprehension. Moody was eventually discovered to be in Beverly, Mass., where he was working at a carnival. He waived extradition and was returned to Maine by Maine State Police.

As the carnival set up at a local high school in Beverly, the company turned over its employee manifest to police in compliance with the law. That’s when Moody’s name was flagged, showing an outstanding warrant.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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