Felon Racks Up Knife, Burglary, And Theft Charges In Concord

CONCORD, NH — A homeless felon, now located in Concord, is facing more than half a dozen charges based on criminal accusations leveled against him during the past six months.

In early August 2021, police were sent to the Best Western on Hall Street for a report of a woman being attacked and threatened with a knife. Several witnesses claimed they saw the man threatening and assaulting the woman but the man had since left the area. The victim was in a bathroom.

Police spoke to the caller and the victim and saw a scrape on the woman’s right cheek that she said was from a bracelet a couple of days before. The officer wrote the woman had red discoloration under her left eye but she denied she was struck.

The woman accused Justin Martin, 35, a homeless man, of being the man involved in the altercation. They began arguing, she said, after trying to line up a room at the hotel. Martin, she said, “felt threatened” because she spent the night before at a friend’s house without him.

When asked about whether she was threatened with a knife, she denied it.

The officer spoke to a number of witnesses and reviewed surveillance footage that caught Martin grabbing a woman and pushing her, according to an affidavit. A sergeant, while checking the third floor of the hotel, located a belt with a sheath knife and switchblade under an air conditioner unit. The reporting officer re-reviewed the surveillance footage again and saw Martin removing the belt and knife and placing it under the air conditioner, an affidavit stated.

A warrant was issued for his arrest for felon in possession of a dangerous weapon, simple assault, and domestic violence-simple assault charges.

About three months later, police were sent to the Best Western on Hall Street again for a disturbance.

The calling party accused a man of smashing a hotel window, making entry into a room, and assaulting a woman. Police spoke to a witness who said the woman had been in his ground floor room and was assaulted but was now in a bathroom tending to her injuries, he said.

The officer went to speak with the woman, who was shaking, crying, and bleeding from the nose, an affidavit stated, with redness in her face. The woman accused Martin of forcing himself into the room, pulling her off a chair, dragging her to the ground, and kicking her in the face, the report stated.

The officer spoke to the witness about the situation and he said he told Martin to stay away from the woman, the report stated. After that, he launched the attack, the man claimed.

The reporting officer also spoke to other witnesses and hotel workers, too, who reported the incident. One woman, who was outside, reported seeing a man jump out the broken hotel window, out of the room, and then, toward the rear of the building.

The officer went to the hotel room and saw objects scattered and dumped around the room. The smashed window was estimated to cost about $400 to fix.

A warrant was issued for Martin’s arrest for felony burglary, criminal mischief, simple assault, and domestic violence-simple assault charges.

Three weeks after that incident, on Oct. 27, another warrant was issued against Martin on two felony theft charges.

The charges stemmed from another incident at the Best Western on Hall Street on Sept. 24, 2021. On that date, an officer took a report from a contractor who reported tools stolen from his truck. The value of the tools amounted to around $2,100.

The officer spoke to the hotel manager and asked to look at the surveillance video. In the video, the officer saw a man walking down the hotel's stairs and out to the parking lot. The man entered a sedan and began to leave but stopped in front of the victim’s truck. The officer accused the man of exiting the sedan, going over to the truck, and opening its tailgate. After that, the man began removing objects, the report stated.

The next day, the officer attempted to get more information about the sedan and was able to track down its owner but could not speak to him.

On Oct. 8, 2021, the officer was at the hotel for a follow-up and spoke with the owner of the sedan. The car owner said he did not have an active license but was letting Martin use the vehicle, according to an affidavit.

The officer did some investigatory work on Martin and found a distinct tattoo of the letter M that was in his booking photos. The tattoo matched one the man removing items from the truck that was caught on surveillance footage had, the report stated.

A warrant was then issued against him. Martin was arrested on all the charges on Nov. 23, 2021.

On Dec. 28, 2021, police were sent to Walmart on Loudon Road for a past tense theft report from September.

During the investigation, the store's loss prevention manager was able to identify the suspect as Martin. She accused him of selecting several items, including a Samsung soundbar, putting them in a cart, and wheeling them out of the store on Sept. 13, 2021. The value of the items was around $436.

The report stated the employee matched a surveillance photo of Martin to a photo of him in an internal Walmart theft database system.

A warrant was issued for his arrest on Jan. 3 and he was arrested on Jan. 14.

Martin is due back in Merrimack County Superior Court for a dispositional conference hearing on March 30 on many of the charges.

According to superior court records, Martin is a felon due to identity fraud and forgery convictions out of Manchester from August 2008 when he was in his early 20s. He was found later to be in violation of probation in February 2012.

Martin was convicted on felony theft charges in April 2014 in Manchester. He was convicted on drug possession and falsifying physical evidence charges after being charged by state police, robbery in Hooksett, and felony theft and willful concealment in Salem in January 2018. In May 2018, he was convicted on more theft charges.

Martin was also arrested on Feb. 3, 2021, on false report to law enforcement, disobeying an officer, operating without a valid license, and unregistered motor vehicle charges after an incident on Water Street. He was also arrested on theft and resisting charges in September 2020 after an incident at Cumberland Farms. Martin was also arrested on assault and domestic violence charges in August 2019.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

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