Whitefield men allegedly kidnapped, threatened to kill Penobscot County man (2024)

A Whitefield man has been charged with three felonies after police say he induced a 19-year-old from Penobscot County to violate a protection order by coming to see the man’s daughter.

John Pagurko, 63, allegedly threatened to shoot the young man in the process and faces charges of kidnapping, robbery and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon. Pagurko’s son-in-law, Michael Davila Rodriguez, 30, of Whitefield, faces the same charges.They were arrested by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, April 10.

According to court documents, Pagurko asked Rodriguez to use the phone of Pagurko’s daughter to text the 19-year-old Penobscot County man starting on March 30, inviting him to come to Whitefield on the same day that a temporary protection from abuse order was served on the alleged victim on behalf of Pagurko’s daughter. Police said there is an ongoing investigation into claims the young man sexually assaulted the daughter, though no charges have been filed.

The Kennebec Journal is not identifying the 19-year-old because he is an alleged victim in this case and he has not been charged by police in connection with the assault investigation.

In an interview with Detective Ryan Chubbuck on Wednesday, April 3, Pagurko said he was attempting to scare the young man into not contacting his daughter any more. In his statement of probable cause to secure an arrest warrant, Chubbuck wrote that Pagurko also wanted the youth to admit he had sexually assaulted his daughter.

In the interview, Pagurko said that the Penobscot County man eventually agreed to go to Whitefield and Pagurko used his daughter’s debit card to buy a bus ticket from Bangor to Augusta. When the young man arrived, Pagurko said Rodriguez picked him up in Augusta and brought him to Whitefield, where Pagurko said he had a conversation about not contacting his daughter any more.

The daughter came out, demanded the young man open his phone, and she deleted photos of herself, Chubbuck wrote; Rodriguez drove the young man back to Augusta, and the daughter kept the phone, which the sheriff’s office seized for evidence.

On April 3, the young man was arrested on a charge of violating the temporary protection order.

That same day, the daughter called the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to report that she was scared of her parents and they had taken away her electronics and car keys. At that time, the daughter said that when the young man had been at her house, Pagurko and Rodriguez had tied him up and threatened to kill him and castrate him.

Five days later, Chubbuck interviewed the young man in his Penobscot County home and got a slightly different account of what happened in Whitefield. According to Chubbuck’s statement of probable cause, the youth said he didn’t know that Pagurko and Rodriguez had contacted him or who bought the bus ticket for him. When he arrived in Whitefield, he said, Rodriguez drove him to near where the pigs were kept and pointed a handgun at him, ordering him to get out of the car.

“He was then met by John (Pagurko) where he was put on his knees. (He) was forced to give up his phone, wallet and passcode to his phone,” the statement reads. “John then had (him) stand on a platform while John retrieved a shotgun from the side by side UTV. (He) stated John and Michael then placed him in a chair and tied his hands behind his back and his feet to a chair. From here, John pointed the shotgun at his head. (He) reported that John and Michael threatened to kill him multiple times during this interaction.”

Chubbuck wrote that eventually the daughter came out and went through the young man’s phone. After that, he said he was given a ride to Augusta.

“(He) stated he was afraid when this occurred and felt they were capable of killing him,” Chubbuck wrote.

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