LEBANON — A Vershire man who sent Lebanon schools into lockdown after police intercepted him approaching the campus in his pickup with loaded firearms will have his criminal charges set aside, so long as he successfully completes a court-ordered diversion program.

Judge Michael Mace rendered “no finding” in regard to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest against 40-year-old Eric Wilkinson.

Wilkinson will have his docket wiped clean in a year providing he completes a diversion program and abides by the conditions of his plea agreement approved in Lebanon District Court last Wednesday.

The plea deal comes 14 months after Lebanon police and multiple other agencies responded en masse to a call of an armed man reported to be experiencing a mental health crisis who was headed to the shared Lebanon High School and Hanover Street School campus, where his child was an elementary student.

A school resource officer alerted Lebanon authorities that Wilkinson’s former partner, with whom he shared custody, reported he had sent her concerning text messages and was expected to attend Hanover Street’s “afternoon sing” that afternoon.

The woman called the school and requested that the school resource officer “keep an eye out for Eric to make sure he was all right” (sic), according to court records.

Police stopped Wilkinson for a “welfare check” in his pickup just off school grounds and found that he had four loaded firearms inside the cab. While police tried to get Wilkinson to voluntarily exit his pickup, he made additional statements about harming himself, according to court documents.

Wilkinson did not intend to harm anyone at the schools, police concluded.

The March 15, 2024, incident occurred just as many high school students were leaving for the day. Those who were still on campus were told to shelter in place.

Wilkinson remained in the cab of his pickup for more than two hours while police engaged him in conversation to get him voluntarily step out. He eventually surrendered without incident and was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for evaluation, police said at the time.

Wilkinson, a 2003 graduate of Hatford High School, is a former U.S. Marine who was deployed to Iraq in 2004.

A combat engineer who handled explosives, Wilkinson was also a Hartford High School classmate and close friend of Jeffrey Holmes, who followed Wilkinson into the Marines. Holmes was killed on Thanksgiving Day in 2004 while conducting a house-clearing operation in the city of Fallujah, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq War.

Wilkinson was 20 when he was interviewed by the Valley News from Camp Lejeune, N.C., after returning from Iraq. He described his deployment as, “Hell, pretty much. It was extremely hot. Some people, it just didn’t seem like they wanted us there.”

The plea deal was approved in a less than five-minute hearing before Mace, who also ordered details of Wilkinson’s diversion program sealed.

After the hearing, both Wilkinson and his court-appointed public defender, Renee Sargant, declined to comment.

Those experiencing a mental health crisis can call or text the New Hampshire Rapid Response Access Point at 833-710-6477 or NH988.com. Those outside of New Hampshire can call or text the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.