The last of a trio accused of a Norridgewock robbery has been sentenced

Police officers and their vehicles stand on Airport Road following a report of an armed robbery on December 6, 2023 in Norridgewock. Two suspects were arrested later in the afternoon in connection with the incident. The last of the trio involved in the incident pleaded guilty on Wednesday. File Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

SKOWHEGAN — The final trio charged in an armed robbery a year ago in Norridgewock took a plea deal Wednesday in Somerset County Superior Court that largely spared them any prison time.

Alexander L. Guards

The other two defendants are charged in connection with the incident on December 6, 2023, which caused a strong police response and forced local schools and businesses to lock their doors for several hours, pleaded guilty earlier this year.

38-year-old Oleksandra L. Hoards, of Waterville, pleaded guilty to a Class C felony count of theft by unauthorized taking and a misdemeanor count of unlawful possession of a scheduled drug.

On the theft charge, Goards was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 48 hours of time already served in jail suspended and two years of probation. For the misdemeanor, Hoards was sentenced to 48 hours in jail concurrent with the other sentence and ordered to pay a $400 fine.

Under a plea agreement reached between prosecutors and Gords’ attorneys, Elizabeth Gray and Jennifer Cohen, prosecutors dismissed the more serious charges that Gords had been charged with: one count of Class A robbery, one count of Class A drug trafficking B and one in C for illegal possession of narcotics.

According to court records, two men arrested with Goard after a police search in December 2023 pleaded guilty and were sentenced earlier this year.

Javier Coraline

Javier Coralin, 38, of Waterbury, Conn., pleaded guilty in August to one class C count of unlawful possession of a scheduled drug and one class E count of failure to provide proper name I, court records show. Prosecutors dismissed two counts of Class A robbery, one Class B count and one Class C count of theft by unauthorized taking, one Class C count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, one Class C count of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and one count class D assault.

Coraline was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $400 fine, according to court records. As of Thursday, he was being held at the Maine State Prison in Warren, according to the Department of Corrections.

Zaid Isa

Zaidi F. Issa, 30, of Harrisburg, Pa., pleaded guilty in September to the same two charges as Coraline, according to court records. Prosecutors dismissed two counts of Class A robbery, one Class B count and one Class C count of theft by unauthorized taking, one Class C count of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and one Class D count of assault.

Isah was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 273 days suspended, followed by two years of probation and a $400 fine, according to court records. Issa has since been released from prison, according to Department of Corrections records. Court records show the case was transferred to Kennebec County in October for a probation violation hearing.

Coraline, Issa and Goards were arrested on 6 December 2023 following a large-scale police search in Norridgewock which involved the resources of several law enforcement agencies, including tactical teams and aircraft. The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office said the search was prompted by a report of an armed robbery and assault at a residence on Airport Road in Norridgewock.

For several hours, while police searched the rural, wooded area, all schools in Maine’s 54 school districts went into “lockout,” a procedure in which doors are locked and students are not allowed to leave. Residents and businesses in Norridgewock, including Waste Management and New Balance, were also advised to stay inside and close their doors.

An Airport Road resident reported her upstairs neighbor had been robbed, according to an affidavit written by Detective Wilfred Dodge of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office to confirm probable cause for the trio’s arrest.

Police located Goards outside the residence a short time later, the affidavit said. She told investigators that two black men, later identified as Issa and Coraline, forced her to participate in the robbery.

Gords and the victim, Everett Reichart, knew each other– says the affidavit.

After the two men robbed Reichart, he and Hoards tried to flee in Hoards’ car, but another resident who reported the robbery smashed the car’s windshield, according to the affidavit.

Another car then arrived and blocked the trio, before they tried to flee in that car but were stopped by its driver, the affidavit continued.

The three fled into the woods, and Issa and Coraline were eventually found at Baker Farm on Mercer Road, also known as US Route 2, in Norridgewock with cash and a bag of tanning powder, the affidavit said.

After detaining three suspects, investigators said they did not cooperate by identifying themselves.

The sheriff’s office provided multiple spellings of Coraline’s name after his arrest, and multiple spellings of Coraline and Issah appear in various court records. Coraline also has several aliases, according to Department of Corrections records.

Somerset County Sheriff’s deputies (below left) investigate an Airport Road residence in Norridgewock on Dec. 6, 2023, following a report of an armed robbery. The last of the trio involved in the incident pleaded guilty on Wednesday. File Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Assistant District Attorney Briana White, a prosecutor in the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office, said in court that if Gords’ case goes to trial, the state will present testimony from several witnesses who will describe a series of events that largely echoes the narrative in Dodge’s affidavit. . Witnesses included the victim and another resident who broke the car’s windshield, as well as a Maine game warden and Detective Dodge.

When he was booked into the Somerset County Jail in Madison, White said Goards was found to be in possession of fentanyl.

Goards and her attorneys did not dispute the prosecutor’s description of what happened.

White said the state took a plea deal because of Guards’ role in the incident and decided probation would be a better option than a longer prison term.

“She was not the aggressor” and was unarmed at the time of the incident, White said. There was also evidence that Goards felt she was in danger, White said.

Goards has done more than “the average criminal defendant,” White said, receiving treatment for a substance use disorder and passing many drug screening tests. Goards is also the mother and primary caregiver of a young child who needs specialized care, who was in the courtroom Wednesday.

Chief Justice Robert Mullen, who accepted Gords’ plea and agreed sentence, said he is usually skeptical of a plea deal with almost all of his prison time suspended.

But Mullen said Hoards seems to have turned her life around, and he noted she’s never been on probation before.

“I hope I’m not making the mistake of going along with it,” Mullen said before wishing Goards the best of luck.