SOUTH PORTLAND — Police say a man and two women accused of brutally beating a 28-year-old woman inside her motel room Saturday night were looking for drug profits from the sale of crack cocaine and wanted to exact revenge for a previous slight.
In court papers filed Monday in Portland Unified Criminal Court, South Portland police said Benjamin Martineau, 27, Aria Pomerleau, 21, and Nicole L. Haycock, 28, went to the Anchor Motel to confront Brittany Parker because her boyfriend, identified by police as Jerome “JB” Davis, had previously tried to coerce Pomerleau to have sex with him and then to force Pomerleau into a sex-trafficking situation.
“Parker and her boyfriend allegedly sell drugs, specifically crack cocaine, and (the suspects) believed that there were proceeds at the motel from that,” South Portland police Detective Scott Corbett wrote in an affidavit. He said Pomerleau told police “that this act of going to the motel was in revenge for what Davis tried to make Pomerleau get involved in.”
Neither Parker nor Davis has been charged with a crime and neither could be reached for comment.
Parker suffered kicks and punches, abrasions and a deep cut under her right eye, as well as cuts to her right hand, according to the police affidavit and photos of Parker included in the court file.
Court records show that detectives identified the three suspects by searching through Facebook photos and friendship relationships online, and by comparing surveillance video from the motel, and that Parker then made a positive identification from a photo lineup.
The attack at the motel at 715 Main St. began around 7 p.m. Saturday, police said. Parker was in the bathroom of the motel room where she was staying when she heard a knock on the door, she told police. Although she had only met the three people who came to visit her the night before and knew two of them only by their first names, Parker let them into the room and went back to the bathroom to continue getting dressed, the affidavit said.
The four people made small talk, and then as Parker reached down on the floor of the bathroom, Martineau kicked her in the face, the affidavit says. Haycock and Pomerleau joined in, kicking and punching Parker.
She tried to stand up during the attack but was pulled back to the floor by her hair. She spent most of the attack on the floor trying to cover her face from the blows, the affidavit said.
At one point Parker grabbed a folding knife on the floor of the bathroom to try to defend herself, but she ended up struggling with one of her assailants over it and suffered cuts to her hand and arms as a result.
“Near the end of the assault, a plastic bag was put over her head,” Corbett wrote. “They said they were going to kill her and made mention of shooting her.”
Throughout the attack, Parker was screaming for help. Around the time the bag was placed over her head, someone knocked at the door, stopping the attack, the affidavit said.
At that point, one of the women involved in the assault left the room and got into a cab that was waiting in the parking lot, the affidavit said. Martineau and the other assailant also left the room and got into a car that Parker had rented and drove off.
Rick Taylor, 48, whose room is four doors from Parker’s, said he heard banging coming from the area of the room. When Taylor looked out his window, he saw a woman he identified from mugshots as Haycock frantically go between a waiting taxicab and a motel room before leaving in the taxi.
Taylor said Parker was in the parking lot after the attack, and that after she had been taken to the hospital, he went outside to see what had happened. The door to Parker’s room was open, and he could see the room inside was in a shambles.
“The place was demolished,” Taylor said. “I have a strong stomach, but I wouldn’t touch it. How she survived, I don’t know.”
Police found Martineau, Pomerleau and Haycock by interviewing the cabdriver, who dropped off Haycock at 102 Wellesley Estates in Portland, where she previously had been involved in a domestic incident.
On Sunday, police knocked on the door of the unit and a man matching Martineau’s description came to the door but did not answer. Police obtained a search warrant and called in the SWAT team as a precaution, but the three surrendered peacefully, police said.
The suspects all have criminal records, according to the State Bureau of Identification, and were ordered held on bail.
Martineau, a Portland transient, was charged with attempted robbery, burglary, aggravated assault and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. His criminal history includes two convictions for assault and felony theft, as well myriad misdemeanor convictions. He was ordered held on $75,000 cash bail.
Haycock, who has been living in the Portland area, was charged with attempted robbery, burglary and aggravated assault. Her prior convictions include felony theft, as well as multiple misdemeanor charges. She was ordered held on $25,000 cash bail.
Pomerleau, of Westbrook, has a history of misdemeanors. She was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail.
They will face arraignment at a later date if a grand jury indicts them.
Parker has a criminal record that dates to 2008 and mostly contains misdemeanors. She was convicted of felony drug possession in 2014 and was sentenced to 59 days. She also was convicted of misdemeanor drug possession in 2015.
After the brief appearances the three defendants made in court Monday, a man who appeared to be connected to one of them was arrested by Portland police outside the courthouse after he began shouting obscenities at a cameraman for WMTW-TV and then kicked him.
He was arrested by Portland officers who were in the area. The cameraman suffered an injury to his arm but did not require hospitalization.
Matt Byrne can be contacted at 791-6303 or at:
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