York Town News
York man held on $25,000 bail
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - A local resident charged last week with violating the conditions of his release on firearms charges is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail.Patrick Simpson, 39, of 75 York St., appeared before a judge on Wednesday, March 14, in York County Superior Court on a bail violations charge after police conducted a bail conditions check at his property.
Following that hearing, Simpson was ordered held on $25,000 cash or $75,000 surety bail.
York Detective Thomas Cryan confirmed Tuesday that Simpson was still being held at York County Jail in Alfred in lieu of bail.
Simpson had been free on bail, with conditions that included not possessing any weapons and being subject to random searches for weapons, after he was charged with multiple counts of criminal threatening with a firearm back on Jan. 23.
When checking Simpson's property on March 12, police found a .40-caliber semi-automatic firearm and a .45-caliber semi-automatic firearm as well as numerous knives, and charged him with one misdemeanor count of violation of conditions of release.
Simpson had been charged with two counts each of Class C felony criminal threatening with a firearm and Class C felony reckless conduct with a firearm after he allegedly threatened two local men who stopped at his York Street late in the night on Jan. 23 to report damage to a realty sign from his property.
Simpson, who had been the victim of a shooting at the York Beach business he manages one week earlier, was holding the two men at gunpoint in the driveway when police arrived at his home.
It was determined that Simpson and the men did not know each other, and the two men had no connection to the earlier incidents at Shelton's and Gabby Sullivan's in York Beach, which remain under investigation.
Each felony count that Simpson faces carries a maximum penalty of $5,000 and a sentence of 3 to 5 years in prison.
York Police Chief Douglas Bracy noted last week that local police are working with the Maine Fire Marshal and the state crime lab on the earlier case involving Simpson's shooting.
Cryan confirmed Tuesday that no arrests have yet been made in connection with that case or the small fire at Shelton's that police discovered after treating Simpson's injury and responding to that location to gather evidence.
"We are still actively working on that case," Cryan said.
