Police: Man held woman against her will

Defendant accused of brandishing airsoft rifle, trying to get alleged victim to smoke meth inside booby-trapped apartment

LOWELL >> A Lowell man is behind bars for allegedly holding a woman against her will, while armed, inside his booby-trapped apartment on Market Street for approximately nine hours.

A Lowell Police report about the incident states the alleged victim told authorities that Joseph Melchionda, 28, took her cellphone and tried to force her to smoke methamphetamine during the alleged kidnapping that she said began the night of Nov. 9 and went on until the early-morning hours the next day.

According to the police report, the alleged victim approached police at the front desk of the station on Arcand Drive on Nov. 17 to file a report stating Melchionda had been threatening her via text message. Police said Melchionda had sent the woman roughly 50 text messages, which included threats to shoot her.

The alleged victim told police she first met Melchionda on Nov. 3 when he came to a Woburn law firm to seek legal representation for a landlord-tenant dispute. The alleged victim is described in the police report as a lawyer currently seeking her license to practice in Massachusetts.

The alleged victim went on to inform police that she had gone to Melchionda’s apartment at 200 Market St. at around 7 p.m. Nov. 9 to gather evidence for the landlord-tenant dispute. The victim claimed Melchionda proceeded to stand in front of his door with what appeared to be a rifle (identified as an airsoft rifle in the Lowell

Police arrest log) and refused to let her leave. The alleged victim said she watched Melchionda load “small BBS” into the rifle, admitting that she “feared for her life,” the police report states.

The woman told police the lights were off inside the apartment, and Melchionda made her sit in a chair in a living room, “at some points without her phone, which he took from her.”

“Joseph then tried to force (the alleged victim) to smoke meth,”

the police report states. “At one point, Joseph forcefully grabbed her arm and moved her about the apartment. While in the apartment he stated that his apartment was ‘booby trapped’ and she saw what appeared to be a ‘booby trap’ by the door.”

The alleged incident concluded at 4 a.m. Nov. 10, when the woman said Melchionda allowed her to leave the apartment.

Also on Nov. 17 — shortly

before the woman approached police at the front desk about the alleged kidnapping — police had been called to Melchionda’s apartment at 200 Market St. According to a police report, Melchionda called police there to talk to them about threatening messages he claimed to be receiving on his cellphone.

Police said officers determined Melchionda “was suffering from some sort of mental health episode,” which was based on his erratic behavior. The report states while police were at the apartment, they received

preliminary information from the front desk that Melchionda had allegedly been sending threatening messages to the alleged victim.

Due to these alleged threats and his growingly erratic and irrational behavior at his apartment building, police said Melchionda was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital where a Section 12 was completed. A Section 12 allows for a person to be brought against his or her will to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and possible treatment.

While at the hospital, Melchionda allegedly informed police he had “several booby traps” set up inside his apartment. As a result, the State Police Bomb Squad was called in to investigate. The Bomb Squad eventually cleared the apartment.

After receiving information regarding the details of the alleged kidnapping, police proceeded to arrest Melchionda at the hospital on charges of assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, and threatening to commit a crime, with the crime identified in the police arrest log as

“threatening to kill.”

On Monday, after his release from the hospital, Melchionda was arraigned in Lowell District Court. He was held without bail pending a 58A dangerousness hearing that took place on Wednesday. Following the hearing, Judge William Travaun Bailey deemed Melchionda a threat to the public, and ordered he be held without bail until at least March 15.

Melchionda is slated to return to court on Dec. 14 for a pretrial hearing. His attorney, Daniel Murphy, was not immediately available for comment.

It turns out Melchionda has a recent history with law enforcement because of his erratic behavior.

According to a police report, police responded to Melchionda’s apartment on Nov. 11 for a previous Section 12. During the incident, Melchionda was barricaded inside his apartment. The Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT team was called to the scene, and helped remove Melchionda, who was then taken to a local hospital for an evaluation. During the incident, the report states Melchionda’s airsoft gun was taken by authorities.