Why is he on the street?

Cory Deshong (Rochester Police photo)

ROCHESTER - A Sanbornville man and sometime Rochester transient who was charged last Thursday with shoplifting - a day after a Strafford Superior Judge gave him a fully suspended and/or deferred sentences on three drug charges - is back on the street on no bail awaiting a May 25 arraignment.

Cory M. Deshong, 32, was reported to be shoplifting at The Ridge Market Basket around 3:30 p.m. on April 7 drawing no less than seven Rochester Police Officers who chased him and another suspect into woods behind the store.

While police were trying to tighten a dragnet a 10 Rod Road resident in Farmington called police dispatch to say a male just came out of a woodline and asked for directions to Somersworth, according to dispatch notes.

Judge Will, who approved the deferred and suspended sentence on April 7, confers with attorneys during a trial last year. (Rochester Voice file photo)

Moments later another call came in saying a male showed up at his home, knocked on the door and asked his wife for a ride to Somersworth.

Eventually Deshong was arrested and charged with theft by unauthorized taking.

Another man, Mathew R. Montana, 30, of Winnacunnet Road, Hampton, was also arrested and charged with willful concealment and resisting arrest.

Under the sentencing terms handed down by Superior Court Judge Daniel E. Will on April 6, Deshong saw six months of his sentence suspended for two years and the other six months deferred for a year. The terms also said all the time would be suspended if he complied with the terms of his sentence and remains on good behavior.

Most of the drug charges adjudicated on April 6 originated in Lee, but the felony fentanyl possession charge occurred in Rochester on Dec. 17, 2020, when an employee of the Circle K in Gonic called police to report there was a man who had been "banging around" inside the bathroom and left the convenience store with "a needle sticking out of his arm," according to a Rochester Police affidavit.

A Rochester Police officer caught up with Deshong at the corner of Gear and Gonic roads, where he allowed a consent search and was found to have a loaded needle full of heroin in his pants pocket.

Deshong, formerly of Wakefield, was reported as living in Rochester in woods near the Cocheco River in an August Rochester Police Arrest Log.

Rochester Police Capt. Todd Pinkham, the department's public information officer, said after Deshong's arrest last Thursday he was placed on personal recognizance by the Bail Commissioner and was given a court date of May 25.

Assistant County Attorney Kathryn Smykowksi, who prosecuted the case against Deshong, said on Tuesday she hadn't been apprised of Deshong's violations of his sentencing agreement.

"I'm not aware of the theft charge," she said referring to the Ridge Market Basket incident, "but I'm guessing it's a misdemeanor (unless it was over $1000) as he doesn't have enough priors to elevate it to a felony."

"I can't speak to bail or to whether I will be moving to impose at this point as I know nothing about it," she added.

It should be noted that the terms of Deshong's sentencing agreement were dependent on his being on good behavior.

Deshong was also taken into custody for violating bail conditions on Jan. 21, 2021.

The Rochester Voice has been consistently denied access to speak with any of Superior Court judges regarding their bail and sentencing rationale and guidelines.