Rochester trio indicted in McDonald's drive-thru assaults

Driveup window at 912 Central Ave. Dover McDonald's; inset, from left, Robert Gorham, Megan O'Neill, Champion Sprague (Dover Police photos)

DOVER - Three Rochester residents have been indicted in a late-night assault on three people at a Dover McDonald's drive-thru in March.

Champion J. Sprague, 24, of 18 Stillwater Circle, Robert C. Gorham, 32, of 809 Salmon Falls Road and Megan L. O'Neill, 26, of 8 Spruce St., were all indicted on riot charges, which is defined as when two or more subjects are engaged in "tumultuous or violent behavior (that) recklessly creates a substantial risk of causing public harm."

Gorham faces indictment on a second charge of second degree assault for allegedly strangling a female victim.

The indictment states that two victims suffered injuries, including abrasions to the female victim's neck and knee and a contusion to the head of a male victim.

All three suspects turned themselves into Dover Police in May after they learned warrants for their arrests had been issued after a lengthy investigation by detectives.

The incident unfolded around 11:25 p.m. on March 10 when police responded to the report of a fight at the McDonald's restaurant at 912 Central Ave. Police learned the altercation occurred in the restaurant's vehicle drive-thru lane.

In an interview shortly after the arrests, Dover Police Lt. Brant Dolleman said the three victims, a couple in their 40s and the female's son, were just waiting in line when the three suspects cut in front of them and began taunting and insulting them.

As tensions escalated, one of the men, identified as Gorham, got out of the group's vehicle and approached the victims' car, Dolleman said, which led the 19-year-old to also get out to confront him.

Dolleman said things then happened quickly. First, he said Gorham took a swing at the teen, but missed. Then Gorham went over to and began strangling the woman.

As her companion came to her defense, he was assaulted by Champion J. Sprague, Dolleman said, adding that at some point after this, O'Neill also struck the woman.

The alleged assailants all fled before the arrival of police, who later met up with the couple and the teen at Wentworth Douglass Hospital where they were all treated for what were describes as relatively minor injuries.

Dolleman said early on in their investigation of the case they learned the identity of the suspect car's owner, however, the identity of the other two ended up taking almost two months.

"We were able to ID the owner of the vehicle early on, but it was still a long investigation identifying the other two," Dolleman said. "However we were able to track where they had been in the downtown prior to the incident. We won't mention the other establishments, but we got several of them to cooperate in the investigation which helped a lot."