AUGUSTA – Two men accused of holding a man overnight against his will inside a Chelsea home reportedly beat the man with a gun and threatened to slash him with a knife in response to being robbed of $25,000.

The details were released in court documents Friday after Ricardo David Perry, 18, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., and Eugene Charleston, 19, of Manhattan, N.Y., made their initial court appearance via teleconference in Augusta District Court. Perry and Charleston are each charged with kidnapping, a Class A felony, and aggravated assault, a Class B felony.

Judge Beth Dobson ordered each of the men held on $50,000 cash or $25,000 cash if they are able to secure a Maine Pre-trial Contract.

Both men were arrested Wednesday morning after 23-year-old Ryan Partridge sent a text message to his mother asking her to call 911 because he was being held against his will at 9 Hankerson Road, according to a court affidavit filed by Maine State Police Trooper Greg Stevens.

State Trooper Jon Leach went to the address and reached Partridge on his cellphone and urged him to run from the house if he could. Stevens wrote that Leach was in his cruiser as Partridge ran out with two men in pursuit.

Partridge described the men as friends. He said he was “hanging around” with Perry, Charleston and Mansir at Mansir’s home around 10 p.m. Tuesday when another friend “used pepper spray on all of them and stole $25,000 from Ricardo and Eugene and left,” Stevens wrote. That person wasn’t identified by police. “They decided to keep Ryan there until they got their money back,” Stevens wrote. 

Craig Crosby can be contacted at 621-5642 or at:

ccrosby@mainetoday.com