AUGUSTA — The ex-girlfriend of an Augusta man told police that he had long abused and threatened her before stabbing her male friend in the neck while he sat in a car on Saturday night.
Jason S. Boucher, 34, is charged with attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing Jonathan Beaulieu, 42, of Sidney, a friend of a woman who told police she had recently broken up with Boucher because of past abuse.
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Boucher made an initial appearance in Waterville District Court on Tuesday, where Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said his bail was set at $250,000. He is still held at the Kennebec County jail after he was arrested after an hour-long standoff on Monday outside his Cedar Street apartment.
The 33-year-old Gardiner woman told police that since she finally broke up with Boucher about six weeks ago, he has threatened to kill her and her family, according to an affidavit filed by Augusta Police Detective Brian Wastella.
Early on Saturday night, the woman said she and Beaulieu went to a friend’s home in Winthrop. The affidavit says Boucher apparently followed her there, and he went to the home to confront the two about their relationship. The woman told police the two were platonic friends, and Boucher went to a nearby bar to drink, she told police.
After that, Boucher said he was having car trouble and asked his ex-girlfriend for a ride back to Augusta. However, he said he would drive himself home after the woman asked him to sit in the back seat — a request that made him “visibly upset,” the affidavit says.
She followed him back to Augusta because he had been drinking, but she said Boucher pulled over in Manchester and began following her after she drove past him. The affidavit says the woman drove past his apartment on Cedar Street hoping he would pull into the driveway, but he kept following her as she continued onto Hospital Street.
The woman told police that she then stopped the car and got out to confront Boucher. By then, he was out of his car. The woman said Boucher then went to her passenger-side door to attack Beaulieu — who never got out of the car — with what appeared to be a steak knife, the affidavit says.
Augusta police said they were called as the woman drove Beaulieu to MaineGeneral Medical Center, where staff found him with wounds to his jugular vein, chest and left arm that required emergency surgery. By Tuesday, Beaulieu was in stable condition in the hospital’s critical care unit and was interviewed, Wastella wrote.
The woman also told police that she has called 911 on Boucher many times for domestic violence. She was the victim in a 2011 case in which Boucher was convicted of domestic violence assault, Maloney said.
Boucher’s criminal record goes back at least five years, also including convictions for operating under the influence and criminal mischief, according to Kennebec Journal archives.
Michael Shepherd — 370-7652
Twitter: @mikeshepherdme
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