Old Town man indicted on multiple charges from 20-hour standoff with police

A Penobscot County grand jury indicted an Old Town man Friday on multiple charges related to a nearly 20-hour standoff with police in June and other interactions with law enforcement.

Thadius Wind, 47, was initially arrested June 14 and charged with criminal threatening, terrorizing with a dangerous weapon and violating conditions of release after the standoff that closed down Stillwater Avenue for several hours. Initially, he was being held at Penobscot County Jail on $30,000 cash bail.

The grand jury indicted Wind on three charges of violating conditions of release, assault on an officer, criminal mischief, terrorizing with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon.

Old Town police had several interactions with Wind prior to his June 14 arrest, including a June 1 arrest when officers responded to a call at his then Stillwater Avenue apartment and Wind allegedly assaulted an officer and destroyed a flashlight.

On June 14, Old Town police arrived shortly after midnight when a neighbor reported that it sounded like a man and his girlfriend were fighting. Wind allegedly threatened the officers from his second-story window with what appeared to be a samurai-type sword.

Police got the woman out of the building early on, but Wind refused to leave. Police fired tear gas into the apartment, but ultimately used an Old Town fire truck and chainsaws to enter the apartment through the roof.

Prosecutors said during Wind’s initial court appearance that he appeared to be suffering from religious delusions during the stand-off.

“He made statements indicating that he was suffering from religious delusions including that he believed he holds an Arc of the Covenant and that his deceased son is God and is talking to him,” student attorney with the Penobscot County DA’s office Lori Renzullo said during that hearing.

Three days into Wind’s stay at Penobscot County Jail, a fellow inmate attacked and severely injured him. After receiving treatment at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Wind was held in isolation at the jail due to his “fragile state.” He was released on an unsecured bail of $1,000 on June 25.

Wind was arrested again July 15, after his girlfriend told Maine State Police that Wind had a .22-caliber handgun in his “apocalypse go-bag,” a violation of his conditions of release.

During Wind’s July 16 court appearance for his new charges, Assistant District Attorney Joanne Lewis said Wind was also wanted in Ohio for a 2018 failure to appear in court charge and is listed there as “armed and dangerous with violent tendencies.”

Wind has remained in jail since Superior Court Justice William Anderson set his new bail at $1,000 July 16.