AUBURN — A grand jury indicted a Mexico man Wednesday on kidnapping and related charges stemming from a May 24 incident involving a woman that started on Lisbon Street in Lewiston.

Joshua Brown, 41, of 86 Leavitt St., Mexico, was charged by an Androscoggin County grand jury on felony charges of kidnapping and unlawful sexual contact. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual contact. The kidnapping charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; unlawful sexual contact, five years.

Brown had served briefly as a part-time reserve police officer 15 years ago.

According to a police affidavit, Brown encountered the woman on Lisbon Street in front of the Lewiston Public Library early in the morning of May 24. Brown offered her a ride and she declined.

The second time Brown approached her, he pulled his car in front of her at the intersection of Lisbon and Chestnut streets, got out and, taking hold of her arm and jacket, walked her to the passenger side of his car, police wrote.

Brown forced the woman to sit in the passenger seat by closing the door while she was between it and the seat. She told police she had said, “No,” to Brown a few times to getting a ride with him, “and was afraid to say anything” more. She told police she didn’t feel Brown would take no for an answer, according to the affidavit.

He then drove her to Minot Avenue in Auburn.

During that time, Brown pulled down his jeans and exposed his genitals to the woman. He grabbed her hand and forced her to touch his genitals twice, the second time after she had pulled her hand away, police wrote.

Brown stopped at a Circle K store around 4 a.m. to get condoms after asking the woman if she would like to have intercourse before work, according to the affidavit.

When Brown was in the store, the woman got out of the car and talked to a man on the sidewalk, who later described her as “crying and visibly upset.” Brown left the store without making a purchase and drove off alone, police wrote.

In an interview with police, Brown said he had been driving around Lewiston because he had been early for work in Portland. Detective Ryan Rawstron said Brown first told police he offered the woman a ride only once, then changed his story to say he approached her twice. He said he never got out of his car when he picked her up.

Asked why he left the store without buying anything, Brown said he had forgotten his wallet in his car. He said he saw the woman talking to someone else and “did ask her if she was all set for a ride,” police wrote in the affidavit. In surveillance video footage, Brown doesn’t appear to say anything to the woman as he leaves the store and walks past her to his car, the detective wrote.

Brown appeared in 8th District Court in Lewiston in June. His attorney, James Howaniec, said his client “adamantly denies these charges.” He said Brown’s version of events is “180 degrees” different from the victim’s account. “Inconsistencies” in the affidavit “raise some major concerns,” Howaniec said.

While free on $10,000 cash bail, Brown is barred from having alcohol or drugs and can be searched and tested if suspected of having violated those conditions. He is prohibited from having any contact with the woman and must not be in Lewiston between 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

According to Mexico Police Chief Roy Hodsdon, Brown was a reserve officer for the department for a few weeks in 2002.