A motorcycle-delivery dispute in Rumford has led to felony charges against Luciane Dezan, a 46-year-old Medford, Massachusetts woman. Investigators say she damaged the motorcycle and swung an axe at the 44-year-old man who hired her, narrowly missing his head.
According to WMTW, investigators said the attack stemmed from an argument over transporting a motorcycle. The man had arranged for Dezan to haul his motorcycle from Northborough, Massachusetts, to Rumford, Maine, but the trip apparently didn't go as planned.
A Damaged Bike Sparks a Confrontation
Per the station's report, the motorcycle was found with damage believed to have occurred sometime during the trip north. When the man refused to pay Dezan the full agreed-upon fee, the situation reportedly turned physical in a hurry.
The same account states that Dezan hit the motorcycle with an axe, causing extensive damage to the vehicle. The man tried to get her to stop striking the bike, but the confrontation didn't end there.
Axe Swung at the Man's Head
Investigators say Dezan then took an axe from her van and swung it at the man's head, narrowly missing him. Police estimated the resulting damage to the motorcycle at around $2,000, according to the report.
Rumford police arrested Dezan at the scene. She was taken to Oxford County Jail, where bail was set at $10,000 cash.
Charges Carry Serious Weight Under Maine Law
Dezan faces charges of attempted elevated aggravated assault and aggravated criminal mischief. Maine law classifies elevated aggravated assault as a Class A crime, according to the Maine Legislature.
Maine’s aggravated-criminal-mischief statute also permits value amounts from separate mischief offenses to be aggregated under specified conditions and allows an aggregated prosecution in a venue where one of those offenses occurred, per the Maine Legislature. That general provision does not establish that multiple offenses were alleged in this case.
How Maine law treats property damage
The Maine Legislature’s statute classifies aggravated criminal mischief as a Class C crime and lists damage exceeding $2,000 as one possible basis for the charge, alongside other statutory grounds. Police estimated the motorcycle damage at around $2,000; that estimate alone does not establish that the statutory threshold was met. The statute allows value amounts from multiple mischief offenses to be aggregated under specified rules, but it does not show that multiple offenses were charged in this case.
No additional details about the man's condition or whether he sustained any injuries have been released, and it remains unclear whether Dezan has entered a plea in the case.
