Police: Man breaks into Laconia PD, returns to parking lot one night later

LACONIA — Police arrested Jason Clairmont, 45, of Laconia on Thursday and charged him with criminal mischief, criminal trespass and indecent exposure after two back-to-back nights of incidents at the police department. 

“At 12:35 a.m early Thursday morning, a male subject came to the police department extremely agitated, yelling and ranting about various different things and appeared to be paranoid,” Police Chief Matt Canfield said. “He tried getting into the prescription drug collection box, then went to the main doors, yanked on the interior doors, turned around and gave another hard yank and broke the internal lock mechanism and got into the inner part of the police department.”

Canfield added that a dispatcher was present and contacted a sergeant who happened to be in the building with another police officer. The chief also said the department plans to reinforce the front doors of the building. In an earlier conversation, Canfield said Clairmont was all over the place behaviorally. At one point he told officers to shoot him; at another, he claimed he was seeking a warm place to sleep despite being drenched in sweat.

“He was transported to the hospital in Laconia for a mental health evaluation,” Canfield said, adding that Clairmont was initially charged with criminal mischief and trespass after his alleged police station break-in.

Clairmont was released from the hospital, and was back the following evening. 

“He showed up last night at 11:30 p.m. in the middle of our front parking area completely naked,” Canfield said on Friday. “He appeared to be suffering from paranoid delusions consistent with what was observed the night before.”

Thursday night, Clairmont was arrested on two warrants for criminal mischief and criminal trespass, as well as an additional charge of indecent exposure. Clairmont is currently being held in Belknap County Jail in preventative detention with no bail.