ORANGE — A Springfield man faces four charges after allegedly trespassing for the third time on the 60-acre Leverett estate once owned by Yankee Candle founder Michael J. Kittredge II.
Joshua M. Rucks-Smith, 21, pleaded not guilty in Orange District Court on Monday to single counts of assault and battery on a police officer, trespassing, resisting arrest and vandalizing property.
According to a report filed by Leverett Police Officer Andrew Nepal, he received a call from the property’s facility manager at 12:26 p.m. Friday to report that a man wearing a face mask was trespassing on the Juggler Meadow Road property. Nepal found the man, identified as Rucks-Smith, who said he lived on the property.
Nepal reportedly told Rucks-Smith he was trespassing and that he had to comply with his instructions, but Rucks-Smith “began walking away.” Nepal requested dispatchers send additional officers, with Massachusetts State Police troopers and members of the Amherst Police Department responding. According to Nepal’s report, he continued to slowly follow Rucks-Smith in his cruiser for several minutes as Rucks-Smith continued walking on and off the private roadway within the property.
Nepal, the report continues, then exited his cruiser and continued to tell Rucks-Smith to stop. He reported that when he was about about 20 feet behind Rucks-Smith, the suspect turned around with his fist clenched and advanced toward him. Nepal deployed his stun gun twice but failed to incapacitate Rucks-Smith. The suspect then reportedly started striking Nepal with both fists, and Nepal defended himself by striking back with his hands.
Following a brief struggle on the ground, Nepal got to his feet and deployed his pepper spray. While trying to restrain Rucks-Smith, however, Nepal’s eyes made contact with the spray, causing temporary respiratory and vision issues, the report states. Rucks-Smith was reportedly able to break away and begin walking. Nepal continued to follow him and the suspect was arrested when Amherst Police Officer Edward Bennington arrived.
Leverett EMS responded to evaluate Rucks-Smith, who reportedly declined treatment. EMS personnel helped Nepal wash his eyes with solution.
Leverett Police Sgt. Benjamin Peters wrote in a report that he rode with Rucks-Smith in an ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. Rucks-Smith repeatedly referred to the former Kittredge compound as his property and, without prompting, acknowledged that he had “come at” Nepal.
Peters reportedly told Rucks-Smith that this was the third time he had trespassed on the property and that he cannot enter a property that does not belong to him. Rucks-Smith allegedly “laughed and chuckled” while discussing the incident and said he would keep going back, Peters’ report states.
Nepal also obtained photographic evidence that Rucks-Smith had entered the property by prying open the south gate.
Rucks-Smith is being held at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction on $100 bail. However, he also has an outstanding warrant out of Springfield for assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. He is scheduled to appear again in Orange District Court on Nov. 24 for a pretrial conference.
Kittredge died in 2019. His estate sold on May 26 for $4.55 million to Juggler Meadow LLC, whose manager is David Reasoner of Saddle River, New Jersey. Reasoner, the PGA head professional at the Ridgewood Country Club in Ridgewood, New Jersey, intends to keep the site intact as a private residence. It first went on the market for $23 million in 2022.
Amenities at the site, in addition to the main home and a guest residence, include a 55,000-square-foot spa building with a sauna, a steam room, locker rooms, massage rooms, a 4,000-square-foot gym and full kitchen, an indoor tennis court, a 4,000-square-foot stage at one end, a video arcade with slots, pinball machines and carnival-style Skee-Ball, a three-lane bowling alley and billiards room, and an indoor water park with slides, waterfalls and palm trees.
