PROVIDENCE -- A father and son who allegedly assaulted and held at
gunpoint a pair of men who had just hiked to the summit of the state's
tallest point have been charged by the state attorney general.
William P. Kelley III, 50, and William P. Kelley IV, 24, of 208 Hartford
Pike, Foster, each face nine counts ranging from felony assault to use
of a firearm when committing a violent crime for allegedly threatening,
beating and firing shots over the heads of the hikers last September.
Both men were arraigned last month and have pleaded not guilty to the
charges. They were released on $10,000 personal recognizance and are
scheduled for a pretrial conference before Superior Court Judge William
A. Dimitri Jr. on Wednesday.
The charges stem from statements filed by Robert Thompson and Melvin
Stravch, both of Alaska, who told the Foster police the Kelleys
assaulted them as they returned to their car after bushwacking through
the woods to the top of Jerimoth Hill.
Thompson and Stravch said they had been on a trip through the Northeast
climbing the tallest peaks of several states. Last Sept. 29, the pair
rolled into Rhode Island planning to reach the summit of the 812-foot
hill.
At about 10:30 p.m., the two said they parked their car on the side of
Route 101 near the driveway of William Kelley III, and a sign that read
"Jerimoth Hill, Highest Point in Rhode Island." They heard barking dogs,
and then a boy appeared.
"We told him we were just there to climb the hill," Thompson said last
September. "We asked if it was OK to park there. He said his dad might
get mad, but it was OK. So we went for the summit."
Brown University has owned the 5-acre summit area since 1953 and uses it
as a natural classroom for astronomical observation. But the property
around Brown's perch is privately owned.
Thompson and Stravch reached the summit and headed back to their car.
The Kelleys were waiting for them, Thompson told the police.
Thompson and Stravch allege that both Kelleys were armed, one with a
shotgun, the other with a rifle. The Kelleys pointed the guns at the
pair and ordered them onto their property where they forced them to lie
face down on a dirt driveway, Thompson said.
Thompson said one of the Kelleys threatened him and Stravch, yelling
"I'm gonna [expletive] kill you guys!" When Stravch tried to explain
that they had been hiking, one of the men hit Stravch and kicked him.
Then he smashed Stravch's head with his gun butt, Thompson said. At some
point, Thompson said one of the men fired a shot over their heads.
William Kelley III, a truck driver, said last September that his
youngest son had met Stravch and Thompson when they first arrived to
climb Jerimoth Hill. But Kelley said his son never gave anyone
permission to cross their land.
"I got a call at 11 o'clock at night that there were prowlers in the
backyard," Kelley had said. "I walked into the woods and fired a warning
shot with my shotgun, and I said, 'whoever's in there better come out
now.' Nobody came out."
Kelley said he and another son, William P. Kelley IV, looked into the
hikers' car and saw beer bottles. Then, after about 45 minutes, Kelley
said he found the hikers trespassing near his daughter's car. He said
the men didn't look like hikers. They were wearing sandals and they
didn't have a map or backpacks. Plus, he said, what were they doing out
there at 11 o'clock at night?
The men smelled like alcohol, Kelley said. He told them they couldn't
leave because the police were on their way. But the pair ignored him,
Kelley said.
"They got kinda pushy and so my son and I wrestled them to ground and
kept them there." Kelley said he and his son never assaulted the men.
Although Kelley said he did have a shotgun, he insisted he never pointed
it at Thompson and Stravch, never fired it over their heads. He said his
son never had a gun.
When the Foster police arrived, they confiscated Kelley's shotgun and
released the Alaskans. At the time, Thompson said he and Stravch were
shaken up and refused to press charges. Later, outside of Rhode Island,
they reconsidered.
The police said the pair filed the paperwork needed to press charges
against the Kelleys via mail from Alaska.
