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Paroled rapist held in threats at motel

Mast

Less than a month after he was released from the Indiana Department of Correction after serving about 25 years for rape, Brian Mast is back behind bars.

This time, the 46-year-old Mast was arrested on a felony charge of criminal confinement early Tuesday after he locked himself in his motel room and refused to come out for police.

Mast, who was living at the Traveler’s Inn in the 4600 block of East Washington Boulevard, was armed with his roommate’s box cutter. His roommate, Donald Seager, 49, told police he was unable to leave the room and was “a little scared” about Mast’s rants about hating child molesters.

Seager is a registered sex offender, having been convicted of criminal deviate conduct in 1997.

According to court documents, Mast was visiting with other residents at the motel about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and was drinking. He became argumentative with people and demanded a knife so he could cut off his ankle monitor and “leave.”

A woman told Mast to leave, according to court documents, and he acted as though he were going to punch her in the face, then left, yelling and screaming as he walked the halls.

When police arrived, Mast had gone into his room and refused to come out. He told officers they were going to need to call the SWAT team. Mast said he wasn’t coming to the door and that he was going to cut off his anklet, according to court documents.

Then Mast said he was going to cut his own throat and he became more agitated, shouting that a “child molester had got him drunk and called the police.”

After yelling about hating child molesters for a few more minutes, Mast agreed to let police in and he was taken into custody.

Mast is on parole, having been released from prison in late August.

Mast has been in and out of prison and the Allen County jail repeatedly in recent years since Indiana’s Court of Appeals overturned his 1989 guilty plea to charges of rape. He was accused of stabbing and raping a woman inside her Fort Wayne home. The court ordered a new trial after concerns were raised about Mast’s mental health at the time of his original guilty plea. Originally sentenced to 30 years in prison, Mast served much of the time, having received little to no time cut off his sentence for good behavior.

In late 2010, Mast pleaded guilty to the original charge of rape, again, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, most of which he had already served, and five years on probation. Unable to comply with the terms of his probation, Mast was returned to prison this past January to finish out the sentence.

The new charges come less than four weeks after his latest release from prison. He had an initial hearing in Allen Superior Court’s Misdemeanor and Traffic Division on Tuesday and is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.

rgreen@jg.net

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