BURST
Covered Bridge Potato Chips CEO Ryan Albright is no longer facing a charge of domestic assault after he completed counseling and mental health services.
Albright was arrested at a home in Bangor, Maine, in the early hours of Oct. 19. He took an extended leave of absence from the top job at the popular New Brunswick-based chip company a few days later “in light of recent personal health challenges,” the company said at the time.
Police reports filed to Bangor court and made public earlier this year painted a chaotic scene the night of the arrest.
“I pointed my firearm at the male and gave him verbal commands to back up away from the female,” the officer reported.
Other officers arrived shortly afterwards, as a second woman – identified as Joan Overman – allegedly came down the stairs and started yelling at the police. She resisted being removed from the scene, according to the reports, yelling: “This is my house.”
She was eventually handcuffed and both Overman, 27, and Mallory Albright, 37 – who police said continued to be aggressive to each other – were issued disorderly conduct warnings. Ryan Albright was led away into custody.
According to the accounts they gave to police, the three of them had been out for drinks with friends and an argument started shortly after arriving back at the home where they all live together.
Police said Ryan Albright had blood on his nose, which he told an officer came from his wife hitting him three times. Mallory Albright allegedly had red marks on her neck and all over her back. There was no explanation offered in the reports why they were both covered in paint.
Police reported that she told them her husband has not been himself, “having problems at work.”
Covered Bridge Potato Chips at the time had been working to rebuild after a fire destroyed its production factory outside Hartland in March 2024. A new plant has since opened in nearby Woodstock.
The case was due in court in May, but was delayed without explanation until Wednesday.
Albright did not attend the proceeding and no further details were provided, as dispositions are held behind closed door and so the case never returned to open court, but Chelsea Lynds, assistant district attorney for Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, confirmed Wednesday the charge had been dismissed.
“It’s not uncommon,” Lynds said when asked about the outcome. “It really just depends on what led up to it, what the issues were, what the victim input is. That stuff’s all taken into account.”
— with files from Shana Grey