PORTLAND, Maine — A New Hampshire man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to stalking and traveling interstate to violate a protection order, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.
According to court documents, in June 2020, Lawrence Keenan IV, 30, of Somersworth, began sending harassing text messages to a former girlfriend and her family in an effort to reconcile. When the victim, who resided in South Berwick, Maine at the time, refused to respond, Keenan also sent threatening messages to the victim and her former husband, which caused them both emotional distress.
The victim then obtained a temporary protection order from the Maine District Court in York. The order prohibited Keenan from contacting the victim or entering her residence, which Keenan later did, resulting in his arrest. The temporary order was later made final by the Maine District Court. Keenan was released on bail with a new condition that he not return to South Berwick.
In late June 2020, Keenan left approximately 23 harassing and threatening voicemails for the victim in violation of the final protection order and state bail conditions. In the last message, Keenan warned the victim that he was on his way to her residence. Keenan drove from New Hampshire to Maine with the intent to violate the protection order. In the early morning of June 29, 2020, the South Berwick Police Department responded to a 911 call and found Keenan inside the porch of the victim’s residence. She was not home at the time.
Keenan faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each charge. He also faces up to three years of supervised release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
The South Berwick, Maine and Somersworth, New Hampshire police departments; the York County District Attorney’s Office; and the FBI investigated the case.
This case was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
