CUSHING — Bail was set Friday at $10,000 cash for a man accused of being heavily armed while threatening his pregnant girlfriend in Cushing last week.

Joseph E. Seward, 33, of Aston, Pennsylvania, remained at the Knox County Jail in Rockland on Saturday, charged with felony domestic violence threatening with a dangerous weapon, and domestic violence assault.

Seward was arrested Nov. 15 in Rockport by officers from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Camden and Rockport police departments following the incident that had occurred earlier in the day in Cushing.

An affidavit filed in Knox County Unified Court by Knox County Detective Dwight Burtis reported that a small handgun, shotgun and small rifle as well as a large cache of ammunition were found inside the car he had been driving.

Police were called to a residence on Prior Lane in Cushing on Wednesday for a report that Seward was threatening his pregnant girlfriend, according to the affidavit. He had displayed a handgun while arguing with the woman and then he went to the car and pulled out the shotgun from under a blanket.

He fled after police were called.

The woman told police that Seward had assaulted several times over the past few months including punching her multiple times on the previous Saturday, according to the detective’s affidavit.

Investigators took photographs of bruises the woman suffered at the hands of Seward as well as from bites from Seward’s small dog that had attacker her during their physical altercations, according to police. There were also threatening text messages, according to the affidavit.

Seward was in the Knox County court last month where a domestic violence assault charge was dismissed and he was convicted of obstructing the report of a crime, disorderly conduct, and theft from an incident on May 3 in Thomaston. He was fined a total of $1,000.


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