PARIS — A Rumford woman charged with stabbing a woman three times during a brawl last month had bail set Wednesday afternoon in Oxford County Superior Court.
Tiana Crossley, 35, was being held at Two Bridges Jail in Wiscasset on Wednesday evening on bail of $10,000 cash or personal recognizance with supervised release, according to officials.
She is charged with elevated aggravated assault, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $50,000.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor said the state recommended high bail because Crossley admitted to police that she is bipolar, blacks out when she gets angry, has homicidal and suicidal thoughts, and has been arrested on assault charges before.
Crossley’s attorney told Judge Charles Dow that Crossley could not afford $10,000 bail and recommended she be released on personal recognizance.
According to an affidavit by Rumford Detective George Cayer, on the evening of July 14, Michelle Benavidez, 35, was stabbed three times during a brawl involving eight or 10 people. Benavidez was brought to Rumford Hospital and flown to Central Maine Medical Center for treatment of her wounds.
Cayer said he learned from witnesses that Crossley and her boyfriend, Bob Anthony St. Felix, were seen fleeing from the brawl. One witness said Crossley wielded a short, pointed knife while standing next to Benavidez, shortly before she was stabbed.
Cayer wrote that he and Rumford Police Capt. Dan Garbarini spoke with Crossley, who said she “has blackouts and cannot recall what she may have done.” She admitted carrying a small knife in her bra for protection and that while Benavidez was fighting with another woman, Crossley was grabbed by the throat but she didn’t know who it was, according to the affidavit.
“Crossley reports from that point on, she blacked out,” Cayer wrote.
According to the affidavit, Crossley was told by her boyfriend to get out of town because she “stabbed that girl.”
St. Felix disposed of the knife used to stab Benavidez, Cayer wrote.
Crossley was arrested Aug. 8 and booked at the Oxford County Jail. She is scheduled to return to Oxford County Superior Court on Sept. 27.
