CLEARFIELD – Two people accused of fighting with police were scheduled for preliminary hearings Wednesday during centralized court.
Police say Markel W. Maines, 55, and Rita Marie Bahus, 46, both of Karthaus, assaulted police officers and obstructed justice when they tried to take Maines into custody on Jan. 10 in Decatur Township.
According to the affidavit of probable cause for Maines, police conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle because the registration lights were inoperable. The vehicle pulled into a driveway on Morgan Run Road.
Maines who was in the passenger seat, was “concealing his face with the collar of his jacket.” He was asked for his identification but Maines refused to show it or give the trooper his name.
“During this interaction Maines would not make eye contact with me and continued to conceal his face. I then instructed Maines to exit the vehicle as I suspected crime was afoot,” the trooper wrote in the affidavit.
Maines refused to exit and was subsequently extracted from the vehicle while physically resisting the entire time. While he was being extracted, Maines stuck one of the officers in the chest with right hand/fist.
Once he was in custody, he was searched and found to be in possession of six baggies of methamphetamine, a digital scale, bulk currency, two baggies with pills, a glass smoking pipe and other drug packaging materials.
The criminal complaint in the Bahus case details how additional troopers appeared on the scene because of the trouble they were having with Maines. Bahus was in the back seat.
She allegedly struck one of the troopers while he was trying to take Maines into custody. When they tried to take her into custody, she also resisted, police said. She was found to be in possession of a glass smoking pipe with suspected drug residue.
Maines is charged with felony assault of law enforcement officer and manufacture/delivery/possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, along with misdemeanor intentional possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting arrest. His hearing was continued until Jan. 21. His bail is $50,000. He remains incarcerated.
Bahus is charged with felony assault of law enforcement officer, obstruction of justice and hindering apprehension, in addition to misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, sending her case on to the county court. She is being held in the county jail in lieu of $50,000.
