Court beat

A Bradford man is in McKean County Jail after he allegedly fled from law enforcement.

Michael A. Payne, 30, was arraigned Thursday before District Judge Richard Luther and jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail. Payne is charged with one count of flight to avoid apprehension, a third-degree felony.

According to the criminal complaint, at 12:16 a.m. Sept. 10, a Foster Township police officer who was driving around the Bradford Mall spotted a male — Payne — riding a bicycle in the front part of the mall parking lot.

The officer watched Payne go behind the mall while peddling very fast, so he caught up with Payne and turned on his emergency lights. Payne stopped, and the officer approached him.

The officer was having trouble with his portable radio, so he had to go to his patrol vehicle to use the car radio. He made a call for a suspicious male behind the mall, and he asked McKean County Control to look up Payne’s name and date of birth. He was told that there were full extradition warrants for Payne for state parole out of Harrisburg, the complaint stated.

According to the complaint, the officer told McKean County Control that he was going to grab Payne, and Payne jumped into bushes that run behind the mall and to the creek. The officer chased Payne into the weeds, drew his firearm and held Payne at gunpoint. He commanded multiple times for Payne to come out, but he did not, court records allege.

State police and Bradford City Police came to the scene to assist, and officers from the three departments searched the surrounding area until 1:06 a.m., but were unable to locate Payne.

A preliminary hearing for Payne is set for Oct. 7.

Bradford man

jailed on drug charges

A Bradford man is facing drug charges after a traffic stop early Sunday morning.

James R. Graves III, 29, was arraigned Sunday before District Judge Richard Luther on charges of possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance, a felony; DUI-general impairment and four counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanors; and a summary count of driving an unregistered vehicle.

The criminal complaint states that at 12:55 a.m. Sunday, a Foster Township police officer was traveling behind a vehicle, and he ran the vehicle’s registration number and found it was expired. The officer pulled over the vehicle, which was driven by Graves.

The officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana and alcohol coming from Graves’s vehicle, and he noticed Graves was slurring his speech, the complaint alleges. Graves agreed to submit to a Standard Field Sobriety and a Portable Breath tests, and the outcome of testing led police to take Graves to Bradford Regional Medical Center for a blood draw.

Officers also saw a marijuana grinder in plain view inside the vehicle Graves was driving. A subsequent search of the vehicle, conducted with Graves’s permission, yielded 46 grams of marijuana, $451 in cash, a scale, 12 small clear bags and drug paraphernalia, according to court records.

Graves is in McKean County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, and a preliminary hearing is set for Wednesday.

Shinglehouse man waives hearing for rape charges

A Shinglehouse man accused of raping a juvenile waived a preliminary hearing Monday before District Judge William Todd.

Aaron D. Waters-Milliken is charged with two counts each of rape-unconscious victim, statutory sexual assault-11 years older, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse-person unconscious and IDSI-person less than 16 years of age, all first-degree felonies; sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent and aggravated indecent assault-patient is unconscious, second-degree felonies; one count of corruption of minors; three counts of indecent assault-person unconscious, first-degree misdemeanors; one count of recklessly endangering another person and three counts each of indecent assault without consent and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, second-degree misdemeanors.

According to court records, Waters-Milliken and his husband, Jason M. Milliken, 42, supplied the juvenile alcohol, cigarettes and a vape. The juvenile went to sleep in the same bed as the couple, in between the men.

Waters-Milliken told police that the child was sleeping, and he began to touch the child and performed sex acts on the sleeping child, the complaint alleged.

When interviewed by state police on Thursday, Milliken said he touched the victim inappropriately and performed a sex act on the victim.

The criminal complaints noted that the couple had exposed the child to a communicable disease by performing sex acts on him.

Waters-Milliken is in McKean County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Milliken’s husband faces similar charges stemming from the same night. He has a preliminary hearing set for Oct. 5.