AUGUSTA — A man convicted in 1997 of raping and trying to kill a 14-year-old girl in southern Maine is back behind bars after an all night police standoff outside his Water Street apartment prompted by a report that he allegedly tried to sexually assault a woman.
Lorne Corey Sherwood, 45, was arrested around noon Tuesday on charges of assault, terrorizing and creating a police standoff and violating probation, said Deputy Chief Jared Mills of the Augusta Police Department.
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Sherwood was in police custody late Tuesday afternoon while being evaluated at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta after complaining of undisclosed medical issues, Mills said. He was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon and remained in custody. Neither Sherwood nor police were injured during the arrest.
Sherwood was expected to be moved to the Kennebec County jail Tuesday night. Sherwood is eligible for bail on the charges leveled against him, Mills said, but he is on probation. Mills anticipated Maine Probation & Parole officials would place a hold on Sherwood that would prevent his release on bail.
Mills said Sherwood on Monday attempted to sexually assault a 32-year-old woman. The woman did not suffer significant injuries, Mills said, but Sherwood threatened to abuse the woman as he did the teenage girl 14 years ago.
“The words he conveyed were extremely alarming,” Mills said. “Coupled with his past history, from the Augusta Police Department standpoint, I think he’s a very dangerous individual.”
Sherwood in 1996 attacked a 14-year-old girl in Biddeford and nearly strangled her to death. Sherwood pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual assault and one count of attempting to commit murder, according to online state corrections records. He was sentenced in York County Superior Court to 35 years in prison, with all but 20 years suspended, and six years probation.
Sherwood chose his victim at random, according to a 1997 story in the Portland Press Herald. Sherwood threw the girl into his car and locked the door. He drove to Hollis, stopping periodically to look for a sufficiently secluded area, the story said. Sherwood ordered the girl to strip, tied her hands with rope, pulled her from the car, raped her twice atop the hood of the car and strangled her with his hands and a plastic pipe until she fell unconscious.
When she came to, Sherwood said to the girl, “You really want to live, don’t you?”
When she answered yes, he helped her collect her clothes and drove her back to Biddeford, the Press Herald reported.
In the hours after the rape, covered with bruises and gashes, the girl described Sherwood, his rings, his car, brand of cigarettes, even his license plate to within one digit, according to the Press Herald story. The girl remembered the car was a “2.2 Charger,” because she saw the logo on the car’s hood as she was being raped.
Police arrested Sherwood at his home later that night.
Mills said Monday’s victim got away from Sherwood and called police around 9:30 p.m. Officers found Sherwood at his apartment at 388 Water St., which is at the south end of Water Street, past the Hartford Fire Station. Sherwood refused to come out of the apartment so an officer was posted outside his apartment all night to ensure Sherwood did not leave, Mills said. Police secured a search warrant Tuesday morning. The Augusta Police Special Response Team was activated to help carry out the search warrant.
“There were concerns over statements he made to officers last night,” Mills said. “We were concerned he would be aggressive and resist.”
But Mills said Sherwood answered and surrendered when police knocked on his door.
Sherwood spent the last 17 years in the Maine Correctional Center at Windham before being released in June 2013. A lifetime registrant of the Maine Sex Offender Registry, Sherwood moved to Augusta, initially renting an apartment on Cedar Street.
The Augusta Police patrol division, as well as detectives and those in the records division, handed out fliers announcing Sherwood’s arrival. The fliers provide a physical description and a brief narrative of the actions that led to Sherwood’s conviction. Police canvassed the east side of the river from Riverview Psychiatric Center to the rotary as well as the Bangor Street and Eastern Avenue area.
State law requires residents to be notified when a sex offender moves in nearby, Mills said at the time. In Sherwood’s case, the notification process was intense and involved the media. When he moved from Cedar Street to Water Street, the police department updated its website with his new address.
A city ordinance prohibits those convicted of sex offenses against children under the age of 14 from living within 750 feet of a school or city-owned property, such as parks, primarily used by children.
But Sherwood is not subject to the rule because his victim was 14 at the time of the attack.
Mills at the time said police were trying to make the public aware of Sherwood’s past and his presence in the city, but he declined to offer an opinion about whether he felt Sherwood was still a danger.
But Mills on Wednesday said he was relieved to have Sherwood off the street.
“I am very concerned the public is in danger with him out there,” Mills said.
Craig Crosby — 621-5642
Twitter: @CraigCrosby4
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