Milton landlord indicted on reckless conduct charge

Richard 'Buddy' Stuart (Lebanon Voice file photo)

DOVER, N.H. - The Milton landlord arrested after he fired a gun during an altercation with his tenant last September has been indicted by a grand jury after a plea deal that would have reduced the charges to misdemeanors fell through when prosecutors insisted on jail time as part of the agreement.

Richard “Buddy” Stuart Jr. told The Lebanon Voice last month that the two felony reckless conduct charges had been reduced to misdemeanors, but didn’t realize at the time that prosecutors wanted to attach 60 days of incarceration at the Strafford County House of Corrections as part of the plea deal.

Stuart told The Lebanon Voice last week that they also wanted him to take a gun safety course and anger management classes and that he was amenable to those conditions, but 60 days of incarceration would be the end of his business Stuart Woodworking and Design of downtown Milton, which employs several people.

Stuart and his dad, Richard Stuart Sr., were both arrested Sept. 18 after what Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss described as a “disturbance” developed between Stuart and his tenant Joseph Tavares, who resided in an apartment over his woodshop in downtown Milton.

Stuart has maintained all along he fired the gun into the air to defuse an escalating situation between Tavares and woodshop employees.

Tavares has claimed Stuart was pointing the gun at him when it went off, a point Stuart vehemently denies. He maintains he was pointing his handgun out over the widest part of Milton Three Ponds.

When the shot was fired it drew a heavy police response from surrounding towns and State Police. Downtown observers said at one point they saw several police officers running around with guns drawn.
At the time of the arrest, both Stuart Jr. and Tavares said their families had been threatened by the other.
Richard Stuart Sr. was arrested after he drove his car close to some individuals as he wheeled into the parking lot of the former Ray’s Marina to check on the welfare of his son, who by that time was in handcuffs inside a police cruiser.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

Stuart Jr.’s charges are both Class B felonies punishable by up to seven years in state prison.

Stuart Sr. still faces a misdemeanor reckless conduct charge in Rochester District Court, while Stuart Jr. will likely have two misdemeanor simple assault charges connected with a brief altercation he had with two men associated with Tavares the day of the incident bound over to Superior Court with his felony counts.

Stuart said he was saddened and disappointed with the turn of events.

“My father and I feel like we are the victims here,” he said last week. “My father did nothing wrong, and I don’t feel that I fired my gun recklessly, because I shot my gun over the lake.”

Evidence gathering teams at the incident site never were able to find shell casings or any evidence that showed the gun was fired in the direction of Tavares, sources close to the case say.

Stuart Jr.’s arraignment in Superior Court is set for next month.

The indictments were handed down Feb. 20.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt, only that a grand jury has found sufficient evidence to move forward with a trial.