ROCKLAND — A 34-year-old Rockland man, with a lengthy criminal record, is in custody Saturday evening after a two-hour standoff with police.

Joshua Ellis surrendered at about 6:30 p.m. at a home where he resides on the Bog Road in Rockland.

Rockland Police Chief Christopher Young said Ellis came out of the house after a Maine State Police tactical team armored vehicle approached the house.

He was taken to the Knox County Jail in Rockland. Young said Ellis is being charged with creating a police standoff, eluding an officer, and failing to report to jail.

A Rockland officer had stopped a vehicle driven by Ellis at about 2:00 p.m. about 100 yards from the home. Officers had been looking for him because there was an arrest warrant outstanding for him failing to report to jail.

Ellis refused to show his hands when directed by the officer. Ellis then drove away and went to the house, Young said.

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Two adults and later a juvenile left the home, leaving Ellis there alone.

The house is on the west side of the road about a quarter of a mile from the intersection with the Mountain Road.

A Maine State Police tactical team and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office were at the scene along with Rockland police. Police had an ambulance stationed at the Rockland end of the Bog Road in the event it was needed.

In September, Ellis was sentenced in Knox County court to three years in prison with all but one year suspended for theft on April 18 in Camden. The sentence was stayed until Oct. 25. He had also been sentenced to lesser concurrent sentences for violating a condition of release; operating after habitual offender revocation, and failing to stop for officer on May 3 in Rockland.

Ellis also was convicted of two counts of robbery from 2010 in Rockland when he and two other people broke into the home of an elderly woman in Rockland and stole coins from her.

He also was convicted in 2013 for being one of two men, who were wearing masks, who burst into the home of a Bremen teenager, hitting him in the face with a gun and punching him in the face as part of a robbery attempt. He later pleaded to theft in the case.


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