Criminal charges dropped in Concord sexual assault case

By ALYSSA DANDREA

Monitor staff

Published: 10-04-2019 6:54 PM

All criminal charges have been dropped against a man accused of breaking into a stranger’s home and molesting a 13-year-old girl while she slept in Concord.

Miles Anderson, who police said was homeless at the time, was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in Merrimack County Superior Court approximately three months after his arrest on Feb. 19, 2018. However, the state forensic examiner who evaluated Anderson that spring concluded that Anderson could potentially be “restored" to competency in the next 12 months if he received appropriate medical treatment.

More than one year later, the Merrimack County Attorney’s Office moved to dismiss the criminal charges pending against Anderson and a judge agreed. While the competency evaluations and related medical records remain under seal, the case file indicates that attorneys were unable to move forward with the prosecution because of Anderson’s persistent mental health problems that prohibit him from understanding the criminal proceedings and standing trial.

By agreement last year, Anderson was ordered to receive inpatient treatment at a secure psychiatric facility because of the danger he posed to himself and the community at that time.

Anderson’s address is listed in court records as New Hampshire’s secure psychiatric unit at the state prison. In similar cases, prosecutors have advocated for a civil commitment of up to five years under state law.

A grand jury indicted Anderson in April 2018 of one count each of attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault, indecent exposure and sexual assault, as well as two counts of burglary.

Police said previously they responded to a home in the area of Washington and Jackson streets on Feb. 19 for a report of a man found in a teenager’s bedroom. The girl’s father had tackled and punched the man – later identified as Anderson – and restrained him on the porch until police arrived shortly after 4 a.m., according to court documents.

The teen told police she was awakened by a man seated in a chair in her bedroom. The man then proceeded to stand up, drop his pants and approach the girl’s bed, where he then tried to lie down while inappropriately touching her, according to an affidavit prepared by Concord police Detective Bryan Croft.

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With the light on her iPad, the teen was able to shine a light on the man, whom she told to “stop touching her and get out,” Croft wrote. The girl then ran to her parents’ bedroom for help.

Her father proceeded to search for the man, whom he found standing on a porch located between an exterior door to the residence and a door to the living room, Croft wrote. He told police “he tackled the man, punched him and held him on the porch” while yelling for someone else to call 911.

Anderson has a prior history of drug abuse and a criminal record that includes convictions for drug possession and criminal trespass.

(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319 or at adandrea@cmonitor.com.)]]>