NORTH HAVERHILL — Criminal charges against the husband of the Grafton County sheriff have been dropped — and the man whom he was accused of harassing in a late night visit to the man’s home is himself now in jail.
The topsy-turvy set of circumstances is the latest twist in a series of hostile encounters between a Lisbon, N.H., man with numerous complaints of disorderly conduct and the powerful Myers family in the North Country town.
Misdemeanor counts of harassment and disorderly conduct against James “Jamsie” Myers III were dropped on July 24, according to court records. James Myers III is the husband of Jill Myers, who became sheriff of Grafton County this year following her election last fall.
James Myers had been charged for his alleged involvement in a Sept. 12, 2024, incident that led a Lisbon man, Robert Thomsen, to seek a restraining orders against Myers and three companions.
The four were accused of showing up at Thomsen’s home at night and captured on video taunting Thomsen to come out and fight them, saying that they were there to haul him off to jail.
“My client is glad to have been deemed innocent and was fully prepared for trial,” Len Harden, James Myers’ attorney, said in an email. “He was confident that he did nothing wrong and looked forward to having his day in court. He looks forward to moving forward and having the matter behind him with no criminal record.”
Now it is Thomsen, 52, who is being held without bail in the Grafton County House of Corrections in North Haverhill as the result of violating his conditions of release following an assault charge alleging he attacked another man with pepper spray, according to Littleton District Court records.
The circumstances that led Thomsen back behind bars stemmed from a “road rage” incident that occurred along Route 302 between Lisbon and Littleton on July 14.
Thomsen was traveling on Route 302 when the vehicle behind him attempted to pass Thomsen’s vehicle in the designated passing lane, according to the police affidavit filed by Lisbon police officer Michael Didomenico.
After the driver pulled ahead and moved into the lane ahead of Thomsen’s vehicle, Thomsen activated “blue lights that he used for door dashing” and closely tailed the passing motorist.
The motorist — whose wife and two children were passengers in the vehicle — pulled onto Streeter Pond Road while Thomsen continued to follow closely, the affidavit said.
Thomsen allegedly emerged from his vehicle and began waiving his hands above his head and yelling at the motorist. When the driver pulled ahead again, Thomsen got back into his car and followed.
At one point a pickup driven by Craig Myers, James Myers’ brother, appeared at the scene — the affidavit does not explain how or why Craig Myers came to be there — and Craig Myers “blocked Rob from following them any further,” the affidavit said.
Craig Myers told the family to call the police and then later supplied a video of the incident to the police, which showed Thomsen “parked in the middle of the roadway of Streeter Pond Road (and outside) of his vehicle with his arms yelling. The person recording is telling Rob to get back in the car,” the affidavit said.
The Myers family are building contractors and property owners in Lisbon. Craig Myers currently serves as chair of the town’s planning board.
Following the alleged incident, Thomsen was charged with false personation, reckless operation, negligent driving, following too closely, disorderly conduct, harassment and breach of bail, court records show.
Those charges resulted in Thomsen violating his bail conditions stemming from an assault charge only a month earlier, court records show.
Thomsen and James Myers have had numerous hostile encounters around Lisbon over the past year, usually arising when their paths happen to cross, Thomsen and his wife, Nancy Thomsen, have previously told the Valley News.
Last September, James Myers and three companions showed up late at night at Thomsen’s home, with some of them saying they had come to take Thomsen to “Hillsborough” — a reference to the county where Thomsen had an extensive criminal record — and screaming at him to come out and fight them.
The incident was caught on video from a cellphone camera and the home’s surveillance security camera. Following the incident, Thomsen won a 12-month civil restraining order against Myers and his companions. Misdemeanor criminal charges were subsequently filed against all four.
Nancy Thomsen, in an interview with the Valley News, said that her husband, wary from encounters with James Myers, sought assurances from prosecutors that they would “keep his family safe from the Myers while I’m in jail” if he testified in court against him.
Without those assurances, according to Nancy Thomsen, her husband said, “I don’t feel comfortable having to testify.”
As a result, Grafton County prosecutors said they could not proceed with the case.
Laura Wilson, an attorney for Thomsen, declined to comment when contacted via email.
“When a victim or a witness makes it clear they do not want to testify to the events that we believe is necessary to prove the elements of a charge, then we can’t go forward with those specific charges,” Marcie Hornick, Grafton County state’s attorney, told the Valley News when asked why her office sought to have the charges against James Myers dismissed.
Thomsen currently has three separate misdemeanor cases of disorderly conduct filed successively between March and June pending against him in Littleton District Court, mostly involving alleged hostile behavior toward people.
In addition, in June he was also charged with simple assault when he allegedly “purposely caused unprivileged physical contact to (the victim) by spraying him with pepper spray,” according to the charging document.
Thomsen’s bail order in that case stipulated that he not be charged with another crime. But the alleged July 14 road rage incident automatically triggered his detention in jail.
But, per the detention order, if Thomsen got accepted into an “inpatient program” to address his mental health issues, his bail could convert to personal recognizance, according to a motion seeking Thomsen’s release from detention filed by his attorney on Aug. 21.
“Thomsen has attempted to arrange for inpatient treatment but has not been successful in finding an inpatient mental health facility or psychiatric unit that will accept him without a court order as to being a danger to himself or others,” the motion stated.
Thomsen subsequently completed — with the help of his wife, Nancy — a “preliminary referral” to an outpatient treatment facility in Littleton. He asked the court to release him from jail so he could participate in outpatient treatment providing he “complete his assessment there within 30 days and follow all recommendations.”
At the time of his initial hearing, “Thomsen did not have access to the information now in his possession (as to his eligibility for inpatient mental health treatment),” the motion said, adding that a “further hearing is appropriate.”
Grafton County Superior Court Judge Lawrence MacLeod, on Aug. 22, denied Thomsen’s motion for release from detention, stating it did not “comply with the mandates set forth” in the statute under which the appeal was sought, according to court records.
