Masked Conn. official charged in fiancee attack

[August 22, 2009]  ANSONIA, Conn. (AP) -- A public official wearing a mask attacked his fiancee inside their Connecticut home four days before their wedding, throwing a blanket over her, hitting her with a baseball bat and running out the back door, police said.

Keith Maynard, an Ansonia town alderman who has since resigned, was arraigned Thursday afternoon in Superior Court and released on $50,000 bail. He declined to comment to reporters as he left the hearing.

Maynard has been charged with second-degree assault, first-degree unlawful restraint and first-degree reckless endangerment.

Police say the woman, now Maynard's wife, came home July 1 to find a masked man inside the house. She was treated for minor abrasions after the attack.

"I love my husband more than anything and to know that five days later was my wedding and he could do that and go through with the wedding. I was very surprised," Ida Maynard told reporters outside the courthouse.

The judge ordered Maynard to stay away from the house so Ida Maynard can live there. He was also ordered to turn over any firearms, though his lawyer, John Kelly, said he did not believe Maynard had any.

[Associated Press]

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