
A New Hampshire man accused of participating in a deadly fight on Forest Avenue in Portland turned himself in Wednesday night, one day after federal authorities issued a warrant for his arrest.
Kristofer Haken, 46, is one of six men facing charges of elevated aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit assault stemming from an attack in Morrill’s Corner last June that injured two people and killed 54-year-old Susan McHugh, of Gray. The man who shot and killed McHugh, 47-year-old Aaron Karp of Naples, was recently sentenced to five years in prison after arguing that the shooting was self-defense.
Haken, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, has been wanted by police for more than five months.
He was briefly arrested and brought to the Southern State Correctional Facility in Vermont as a fugitive from justice in April, but he posted a $20,000 bail and did not appear at a hearing this month, according to the jail and the U.S. Marshals Service. Though it’s unclear why Haken wasn’t held and brought to Maine, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Ryan Guay said Haken “obviously didn’t follow through” with the agreement he made with the judge in that state.
He is also accused of violating his parole in New Hampshire (as a result of the fight in Portland). He visited multiple Veterans Affairs hospitals before he was taken into custody, according to federal court documents.
Guay said Haken turned himself in to the probation and parole officers in New Hampshire on Wednesday night. He is currently being held at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men, according to the state’s website. Guay said the courts will determine when Haken will appear for his hearings in other states, but eventually, he will be brought to Maine to address the charges related to the fight in Portland.
The five other men facing the same charges are set to appear for trial together as co-defendants. Police say all of the men, including Karp and Haken, are members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Group, which planned an attack stemming from a dispute between two motorcycle clubs at a bar in Westbrook. The attack escalated to the deadly brawl in a parking lot last summer.
Federal court documents filed in the case revealed that Haken’s DNA was found on a switchblade recovered in the parking lot, and police spotted him on surveillance footage holding what appeared to be a 2-pound mini-sledgehammer that was also found at the scene.
While Haken was wanted by Portland police, court documents state that he visited a Veterans Affairs hospital in Albany, New York, in January and used his debit card at a Little Caesars in Chicopee, Massachusetts.
He was arrested on April 18 by Veterans Affairs police at a VA hospital in White River Junction, Vermont, and charged as a fugitive from justice. He then posted bail and failed to appear in court the next day. Between March and April, he had also been in contact with a VA hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by police.
Haken turned himself in Wednesday night after telling his probation officer that he is “fully aware that he is wanted by law enforcement,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Lucas Hallett wrote in the affidavit.
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