ANDOVER, MA — An Augusta, Maine man on Wednesday pleaded guilty in the horrific, two-day 2025 April terror spree that included the attempted strangulation of a teen at an Andover restaurant and the brutal attack on a 70-year-old woman in her Andover home.
The Essex County DA's Office said Roger Bolens, 26, pleaded guilty to a dozen charges, including armed assault to murder, in Essex Superior Court.
Bolens was sentenced to 12 to 15 years on an assault with intent to murder charge and sentenced concurrently on three other charges involving violence over two days in July of 2025.
Bolens was accused of trying to strangle the 19-year-old woman in the Andover restaurant before fleeing the scene and later breaking into an Andover home.
There, he was accused of assaulting a woman in her 70s while she was sleeping by smothering her face with a pillow, punching her, dragging her, beating her head against the floor and refrigerator, and stomping on her face.
Court documents said Bolens admitted the details of the attack during an investigation by Andover Police, including Det. Robin Cataldo (ret.) and Det. David Milne.
Bolens on Wednesday pleaded guilty to armed assault to murder on a person 60 or older, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, assault and battery with injury to a person 60 or older, home invasion, breaking and entering into a building in the nighttime for purposes of a felony, four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (with a victim age 60 or older), strangulation/suffocation, assault and battery, and attempt to commit a crime.
Bolens was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in state prison on the armed assault to murder charge; eight to 10 years, to be served concurrently, on the breaking and entering in the nighttime for felony charge; and eight to 10 years, to be served concurrently, on two of the assault and battery with dangerous weapon charges.
On the remaining eight charges, the judge sentenced Bolens to five years' probation following the end of his jail term.
During the probation period, Bolens must stay away from and have no contact with victims in the case, and undergo mental health treatment if deemed necessary.
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