Assault, threat leads to jail sentence

GILMANTON — A Gilmanton man was sentenced to 12 months in confinement and ordered to get treatment for his substance abuse after pleading guilty to assault and threatening charges.

Timothy Cullen, 39, of Drake Road, in Gilmanton, pleaded guilty in Belknap Superior Court to domestic violence simple assault and criminal threatening.

On the simple assault charge Judge Tina Nadeau sentenced Cullen to 12 months in the Belknap County Corrections facility, and ordered him to complete a comprehensive, multiphase treatment program — CORE — for inmates with substance abuse problems. He received credit for the 10 days he had already spent in confinement prior to last Wednesday’s plea-and-sentencing hearing.

Cullen received a suspended 12-month sentence on the criminal threatening charge. That sentence was conditioned on three years good behavior, and will begin when Cullen is released from the House of Correction.

According to court records, Cullen was charged with criminal threatening after he held an ax in the air and threatened to cut the victim’s head off.

Once he is released, Cullen will have to serve two years probation.

Cullen was also ordered not to have any contact in the future with the victim.

As part of the negotiated sentence, the Belknap County Attorney's Office dropped charges criminal trespass, simple assault, and obstruction of the reporting of crime against Cullen.