FARMINGTON — A New Vineyard man facing several charges in connection with a woman’s kidnapping last fall accepted a plea agreement Wednesday that would drop more serious charges, including those accusing him of holding the woman hostage at gunpoint.

Shane Webber, 25, entered conditional guilty pleas in Franklin County Superior Court to two charges tied to his threatening the woman after a drug deal failed last year in Farmington.

The other man in the incident, Dahlon Campbell Jr., faces multiple charges in connection with the same incident. Campbell, 23, of Jay, has requested a trial and jury selection is slated to begin today for the case, a court official said.

According to the plea deal taken by Webber, prosecutors agreed to dismiss his guilty plea to a criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon charge if he stays out of trouble for the next 12 months. Webber was released Wednesday on personal recognizance, court records show, adding the plea agreement includes no use of alcohol or illegal drugs along with other conditions.

If Webber follows conditions of the plea agreement, called a deferred disposition, he would then enter guilty pleas to charges of threatening display of a firearm and violating conditions of release. Pleading guilty to those charges would not result in jail time or a probation period, a court official said.

Webber initially also faced a kidnapping charge after police said the woman was held hostage on Nov. 30. That charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement, a court official said.

According to the arrest affidavit, Webber and Campbell were armed with shotguns and took the woman hostage inside a New Vineyard Road residence after her male friend sold them $2,000 worth of fake drugs.

They held the woman at gunpoint for several hours before driving her to Hurst Lane and setting her free, the affidavit states. She wasn’t hurt and eventually flagged down a passerby and reported the kidnapping to police.

During previous court proceedings for the case, Franklin County Assistant District Attorney James Andrews said Webber had been out of jail on bail on an unrelated charge before the woman was taken hostage. He was awaiting a court appearance on a charge of unlawful possession of prescription pain killers and has a prior conviction on a charge of furnishing scheduled drugs, Andrews said.

Webber was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail on the drug possession charge, according to court records. That drug charge was the cause of the bail violation included in the plea agreement Wednesday.

Andrews has also said Campbell was more involved than Webber in the drug deal and holding the woman hostage.

Campbell faces charges of kidnapping, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, criminal attempt and violating conditions of release, court records show. He has been out of jail on a pretrial contract and $5,000 cash bail.

David F. Robinson — 861-9287

drobinson@centralmaine.com

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