LISBON, N.H. — Robert Thomsen was asleep at his home in Lisbon on the evening of Sept. 13, when his wife woke him up to tell him there was some trouble going on outside their house.

A group of men had pulled up in a vehicle, gunning the engine, spinning the tires, blaring the horn, and shouting for Thomsen to come out of the house and fight them.

“Robbie, come out, it’s Hillsborough County come to collect you,” Thomsen recounted this week in Littleton District Court where he was seeking a 12-month restraining order against one of the four men who were in the vehicle that night.

The vehicle peeled off but returned a short while later when the men piled out of the vehicle and taunted Thomsen, through a hail of expletives, as he heard one of the voices yell: “Put on your Nikes and come out and fight you scrawny f---,” Thomsen recalled in court.

One of the four men who was part of the harassment that evening was James (Jamsie) Myers, the husband of Jill Myers, who is the Democratic nominee for Grafton County sheriff. Thomsen was later able to identify the men and to obtain a court-ordered temporary restraining order for them to stay 300 feet or more away from Thomsen.

A court hearing to convert the temporary restraining order against James Myers is scheduled for Oct. 1.

A temporary order against one of the four individual involved in the incident, Matt Shanon, who is married to Jill Myers’ sister, has already been extended to 12 months, according to court records.

“I support my family and my wife 100%,” James Meyer said in an email to the Valley News on Friday. “I’m in disbelief that these allegations have been brought against me. I believe that the justice system is the right place for this litigation to take place, and not the media. I will continue to support my family and my wife 100%.”

Thomsen, who lives with his wife, mother and cousin in a home on a dead end street overlooking the Ammonoosuc River only 0.8 miles from the Myers’ residence, is a registered sex offender who by his own admission has a lengthy criminal record and is currently himself subject to a restraining order to stay away from a neighbor with whom he has “had problems.”

“I used to be an asshole,” Thomsen acknowledged in an interview following the judge granting the extended restraining order against Matthew Hubbard, a Lisbon resident and one of the four men who harassed Thomsen and his family. “But I’m going to drug court. I’m doing good,” he said.

Thomsen said he doesn’t know why James Myers and the others had targeted him that evening, although he said he had two prior encounters in town with James Myers, neither of them friendly.

Both occurred when their paths happened to cross and involved a heated exchange of words that Thomsen said each time was provoked by Myers.

“I feel that they took the law under their own thing because I have a criminal record,” Thomsen said of the incident involving Myers and three other men who showed up at his home earlier this month.

Regardless of what people think of him — “I’m not proud of what I’ve done,” Thomsen said of his past — Thomsen said that he would likely have a question for Jill Myers if he ever has the opportunity to ask it.

“Obviously she can’t take the fault for her husband but you’re telling me she’s a Littleton police officer who is running for sheriff and you want everybody’s safety?” Thomsen said. “Honestly, I’m kind of stung.”

As it turns out, this month’s incident is not the first time that James Myers has publicly harassed a person with a criminal record.

During the Woodsville July 4th parade, James Myers was driving a golf cart decorated with campaign signage and Jill Myers was walking beside him when he spotted Charles Demers, a registered sex offender, in the crowd watching the parade.

Demers, speaking on the porch at his home in Littleton, N.H, last week, said that when James Myers saw him watching the parade with his mother and partner, Myers pointed in his direction and began yelling “Pedo! Pedo!”

That caused people to move away from Demers and “give me dirty looks,” Demers said.

“It was awful, embarrassing,” Demers said.

Demers said he approached Jill Myers and told her, “You expect to be an officer, you expect to be running for sheriff, you are not to disrespect people. Period.”

Demers said he went to the Haverhill police to make a complaint but was told “that it was free speech” and there was nothing they could do about it.

“First amendment rights, free speech, but why? I feel like that’s a hate crime,” Demers said.

“Why are you saying that crap in public?” Demers said.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.