ATHENS — A man was arrested this week after a nearly four-hour standoff with deputies from the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, officials said Tuesday.
Dwayne Weese Courtesy photo
Dwayne Weese, 56, of Athens, is facing one charge of creating a police standoff, one charge of domestic violence assault and three charges of violating conditions of release, according to Chief Deputy Mike Mitchell. Weese was taken to the Somerset County Jail where he was being held without bail Thursday.
Deputies responded around 4:30 p.m. Monday to a report of a domestic violence assault at an Athens residence, but Weese refused to exit the house or allow deputies to enter, Mitchell said. The victim, a woman, was able to leave the house earlier, according to Mitchell.
A group of deputies waited at the house while one went to obtain a search warrant from a district court judge, Mitchell said.
“He wouldn’t let anybody in and he wouldn’t come out,” he said. “The standoff was basically that we kept him contained within the house, while one of the deputies applied for and subsequently obtained a search warrant.”
Deputies eventually arrested Weese around 8 p.m. and brought him to the jail, Mitchell said.
The standoff did not turn violent, according to Mitchell. “He just refused to come out of the house because he knew he was going to go to jail,” he said.
Weese had assaulted the same victim before, Mitchell said.
In a separate matter, Weese was arrested Aug. 30 and charged with domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening and obstructing the report of a crime.
Weese also was charged in 2020 with arson after the Office of State Fire Marshal said he set a residence in Athens on fire. Weese’s mother had sold the property the day before, officials said at the time.
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