Westmoreland man receives jail sentence on misdemeanor charges
Aug. 5—A Westmoreland man received a brief jail sentence after pleading guilty to misdemeanor criminal-mischief and criminal-threatening charges.
Cheshire County Superior Court Judge Jacki Smith on Wednesday sentenced Charles Rudolph, 33, to 120 days in the county jail on the criminal-threatening charge, according to court documents.
Rudolph — whom police arrested in January and charged with assaulting another man — received 26 days credit toward that sentence for time spent incarcerated before the conclusion of his case, documents state. His sentence will begin Aug. 15, and he will be eligible for release on electronic monitoring beginning Aug. 28, according to court documents.
In exchange for Rudolph pleading guilty to three misdemeanor charges, prosecutors agreed to dismiss felony charges of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and second-degree assault with extreme indifference, according to court documents. A misdemeanor charge of criminal threatening and two misdemeanor counts of simple assault were also dropped.
For each of the two misdemeanor criminal-mischief charges Rudolph pleaded guilty to, he was sentenced to a year in jail with the entirety of those sentences suspended so long as he remains of good behavior, court documents state. Those suspended sentences are concurrent to each other but consecutive to the sentence on the criminal-threatening charge.
Rudolph has also been ordered to pay a total of $2,600 in restitution and will be placed on probation for two years, according to court documents.
N.H. State Trooper Robert Stevens wrote in an affidavit filed in Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene that police responded to a call reporting an assault in Westmoreland on Jan. 4 and found a man, Alex Bell, with a severe head laceration that required stitches.
Nearby, police discovered a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck with a smashed driver's-side window, a flat tire, and droplets of blood in and around the vehicle, Stevens wrote. Bell later told police that Rudolph had knocked on his truck window and said "get out" and "I'm going to pop your tires" before smashing the window with a tire iron or pipe, according to the affidavit.
Bell said Rudolph then reached in the broken window and punched him as Rebecca Cormier, who was in the passenger seat, exited the vehicle and confronted Rudolph, Stevens wrote. Cormier told police she scratched and poked at Rudolph's eyes to defend Bell, the affidavit states.
Bell, who knew Rudolph, told police that after Rudolph drove off, he discovered that the tire of his truck had been slashed and he bent down to check it out, Stevens wrote. Bell said Rudolph then returned in his vehicle and hit him with the tire iron or pipe — at which point Rudolph fled after Cormier threw a Yeti mug at him, the court documents state.
In an interview with police, Rudolph said Bell and Cormier jumped him and he didn't call 911 "because I handle things myself," Stevens wrote. He denied using a blunt object and declined to say who initiated the fight, police said in court documents. The affidavit does not indicate what prompted the incident. Neither Bell nor Cormier was charged.
A lawyer for Rudolph declined to comment Thursday.
Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at
@rspencerKS
