Man charged in separate sex assaults in Somersworth, Dover headed for June trial

A portion of a September assessment by SCCC that recommended Donald Levier not be released due to pubic safety and flight risk concerns. (Dover Police photo)

DOVER - The Dover man indicted in November and December on separate sex assault charges involving two women from Somersworth and Dover is scheduled for trial in June, the Strafford County prosecutor handling the case said on Friday.

Donald Levier, 36, stands charged with attempted aggravated felonious sex assault, which carries both 10-20 year prison stint; and a consecutive three and a half to seven-year sentence.
The assault charge alleges that Levier attempted to engage "in sexual penetration" of his 64-year-old victim "by trying to push down (the victim's) clothing while having an exposed and/or erect penis."
The victim, who granted an exclusive interview to The Rochester Voice, said she and her family now feel unsafe in their own home. She said she is looking to move from Dover.
The Dover incident occurred in the early hours of Sept. 28, a little over three weeks after Levier's alleged attack on a Somersworth woman inside her mobile home.
That alleged attack resulted in a special felony sex assault charge that also carries a 10-20 year sentence and second-degree assault/strangulation charge that carries a three and a half- to seven-year sentence.

On Sept. 27 just hours before he is accused of attempting to sexually assault the elderly Dover woman Levier removed his GPS bracelet while Strafford County Community Corrections was attempting to track him for Dover Police, according to documents obtained by The Rochester Voice.
An assessment written by the SCCC's Kyle Karpinksi on Sept. 29 that was also forwarded to the District Attorneys Office also notes that "SCCC does not see any conditions that can be put in place to safely supervise the defendant and believes he is a significant risk to the community if released."
What is ever more disturbing is that three weeks earlier - on Sept. 7 - Blair Rowlett, SCCC's director of Community Supervision Mental Health, wrote a similar assessment following Levier's arrest by Somersworth Police in the Somersworth assault.
The Somersworth arrest occurred on Sept. 5 after officers responding to calls for help found Levier had gained access to a mobile home belonging to a female and attempted to sexually assault the victim by throwing her on a bed and trying to remove her pants and underwear.
The Somersworth incident report also alleges he slapped and strangled her and also held her down.
When police arrived they found Levier with no clothes on in the woman's bathroom where he was arrested. He was charged with sex assault, simple assault, criminal restraint and second degree assault.
Shortly after the arrest Somersworth Police Chief David Kretschmar told The Rochester Voice not domestic violence related, but rather a random attack.
Prior to Levier's arraignment on Sept. 7, Rowlett filed her own assessment concerning his suitability for supervision by SCCC, which evaluates whether suspects charged with crimes can be allowed to remain free - with specific and individualized conditions - while awaiting trial or plea deals.
Her assessment also found Levier "Not Acceptable."
"The Defendant has a lengthy and violent criminal record from Louisiana which includes Failures to Appear and Parole violations," she wrote. "There is a 2019 charge in NCIC that does not have a disposition and appears to still be open ... SCCCP has concerns with the current allegations, his criminal record, failures to appear, and Parole violations. Supervision is not recommended."
Rowlett told The Rochester Voice that based on her Sept. 7 assessment she didn't find him a "proper fit" for their risk assessment protocols.
"He's not from this part of the country, so based on flight and risk to the community I was against it," she said.
About a week later on Sept. 15 Levier was returned to Strafford County Jail after he was tracked by GPS in an "exclusion zone," near the domicile of the Somersworth woman he allegedly assaulted on Sept. 5.
He was released by the court again on Sept. 15 with orders for SCCC to continue to supervise his release.
Rowlett said at this point her department added an "inclusion zone," which restricts movements from his assigned domicile, but on Sept. 24, a Friday, Levier told them he was going to stay with a new friend.
She said the "exclusion zone" for his new domicile couldn't be implemented that night because they had to confer with his new roommate to make sure he was aware of SCCC's monitoring.
Just three days later on Sept. 27 Levier's "inclusion zone" became a moot point as he removed his GPS bracelet and wound up on New York Street where he is accused of entering the elderly woman's apartment, climbing into her bed and fondling her as she slept.
According to an affidavit written by Dover Det. Andrew Courter, Levier entered her apartment around 1:10 a.m. Sept. 28.
The affidavit notes that the woman uses a CPAP breathing machine and had gone to bed between 10 and 11 p.m. only to awake to feel a hand moving down her back and onto her buttocks in the areas of her vagina and anus.
Startled, she sat up in bed and saw the person whom she described as a thin black male who smelled strongly of alcohol and cigarettes and had an erect penis, the affidavit states.
The man said "Let me get a piece" and "come on, Mommy," according to the affidavit, and also asked her for a cigarette.
The victim said she told him to get out and was ushering him to the front door when he turned and went into her granddaughter's room, tried to exit through a window but then slammed the window down waking up the granddaughter.
The man then went to the front door and finally left after which the victim called police, the affidavit states.
Levier was arrested around 1 p.m. that same day after police found him hiding in woods near the Dover Public Library.
Both times Levier was permitted release through SCCC were upon Strafford County Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard's order.
Strafford County Attorney Tom Velardi told The Rochester Voice in December that under no circumstance could the digital daily be allowed access to ask Howard why he did what he did since Howard is part of the judiciary.
Levier remains held at Strafford County Jail on no bail.
A final pretrial hearing is set for May, according to Strafford County Assistant Attorney Patrick Stephen Conroy.