ALFRED — Jury selection for the trial of Peter Leon, the Wells pastor accused by police of befriending an elderly incapacitated woman and then allegedly attempting to gain control of her finances, has been set for Sept. 17.
However, Leon will first face an Aug. 8 appearance at York County Superior Court, where a motion has been filed to revoke his bail, after he was charged in March with showing up at the nursing home where the woman now lives. He was arrested by Biddeford Police on March 23 on a misdemeanor charge of violating conditions of release.
Police alleged that Leon had appeared at the nursing home on March 7, court records show. He was arrested and taken to York County Jail, and released on bail two days later.
Peter Leon
According to information on file at the court, Leon is to also appear Aug. 8 on the Class E misdemeanor violation of conditions of release charge.
The motion to revoke bail submitted to the court by Assistant District Attorney Kyle Myska states that Leon was bound by conditions of his $5,000 bail on the original charge that he not have contact with the alleged victim in the case and not to enter her residence.
Biddeford Police, in an affidavit filed with the court, said Leon was charged with violating those conditions on March 23, after they interviewed workers at the nursing home who said he was there on March 7. According to the court documents, a man entered the nursing home, made his way to the residents’ floor where he stayed for “potentially” 30 minutes, then went back to the receptionist’s desk, where he stayed for about an hour.
A receptionist said he spoke to her, questioned her about her husband’s occupation and the like, talked about his work as a pastor and gave her a business card bearing the name Peter Leon. She told authorities the man kept looking through the windows of the double doors leading to the common room where residents were hearing a presentation about wildlife that day.
Leon, who is listed as senior pastor on the 2018 website of Trinity Coastal Community Church, was indicted by a York County grand jury in November 2017 with felony and misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a dependent person along with misdemeanor criminal restraint, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and theft.
He entered a not guilty plea to those charges in December 2017.
In a prior interview, Kennebunk Police Det. Stephen Borst said police became involved when an individual assigned to the incapacitated woman’s case had called to inquire about a protection order.
Borst said the victim’s attorney alleged Leon took the woman from a prior senior residence to her bank, where she allegedly withdrew money, further alleged Leon used the money to have the locks changed on the woman’s Kennebunkport home, which was on the market, and took the “for sale” sign down.
According to police, Leon allegedly told the woman he’d help her return to her home.
A message left with Scott Houde, who is listed as Leon’s attorney, was not immediately returned.
In an unrelated matter, Leon was convicted in 2017 of misdemeanor assault, defined as offensive physical contact, for placing his hand on a 15-year-old girl’s back at a fast food restaurant and telling her that her “jeans looked nice … nice and tight in all the right places.”
He was sentenced to a suspended 60-day jail term and fined $300, subject to a year of administrative release with the conditions he have no contact with the victim or her family, and that he undergo psychological and sexual harassment counseling. Leon’s appeal of the conviction to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court was denied. He had contended he was denied a fair trial because he believed one of the jurors had felt pressured to return a guilty verdict.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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