A 19-year-old man was arrested Friday on charges of indecent conduct and visual sexual aggression against a child. Simeon Welch was charged for allegedly masturbating in the front of a sport utility vehicle while a 4-year-old boy was in the back seat, according to an affidavit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court by Detective David Bucknam, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office. Bucknam was initially contacted by a State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator after an SUV driven by Welch caught fire in a gravel pit in West Gardiner on the evening of May 15. He was accompanied by a 4-year-old boy, and the fire investigator contacted Bucknam to investigate. According to Bucknam’s affidavit, the boy spoke to a forensic interviewer and described Welch “showing his private parts as well as touching it. When asked where this happened, (the boy) stated it happened in the ‘blazer.’” The affidavit indicated the Blazer was the vehicle that burned in the gravel pit. (read more at Morning Sentinel)
AUGUSTA — A 56-year-old former West Gardiner woman was arrested Tuesday at her Riverside Drive apartment and charged with armed robbery of a gas station/convenience store in January. Cynthia B. Chepke, now of Augusta, is accused of robbery and theft by unauthorized taking in the Jan. 27 robbery at Circle K in Farmingdale. The charge of Class A robbery carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, and the complaint indicates Chepke used a handgun to threaten a clerk and stole an unspecified amount of cash. An affidavit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court by Detective David Bucknam, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, details the trail investigators followed that ended with Chepke’s arrest. The robbery was reported at 7:30 p.m. that Sunday, and investigators used a tracking dog to follow a trail of high-heeled boot prints in the snow, finding a discarded black jacket in a Dumpster near a Maine Avenue parking lot. The robber was described as a woman wearing a black jacket over a hoodie. (read more at Kennebec Journal)
PORTLAND, Maine — A Westbrook man was Tasered by police on Saturday for allegedly assaulting a man dressed as a Stormtrooper and another man dressed as a Ghostbuster, according to police. Adam Barnes, 31, was arrested on State Street after assaulting two people in costume and threatening police, said Portland police Lt. Gary Hutcheson. He was charged with two counts of assault, disorderly conduct and five counts of criminal threatening because he threatened all five officers at the scene. After refusing to submit to arrest, he was Tasered, said Hutcheson. Coast City Comics at the corner of Congress St. and Park St. was hosting an event associated with Free Comic Book Day, a national event, on Saturday, according to Jarrett Melendez, event coordinator. About a dozen people were dressed in costume. People were dressed as Ghostbusters, Stormtroopers from Star Wars, the Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. (read more at Bangor Daily News
SKOWHEGAN — Longtime marijuana advocate Donald Christen said he has lit up a marijuana joint on the steps of the Somerset County courthouse every Patriots Day for the past 22 years. Monday, he said, will be no different, except that he also is organizing a rally there at noon for a public “smoke-in” to draw attention to efforts to legalize marijuana use further. This year, Christen, 59, of Madison, said he is tapping into what he sees as a change in public sentiment toward marijuana legalization and is promoting the protest. Posters announcing the rally are being distributed around the state, he said. “We’re trying to start renewing our efforts,” he said of his organization, Maine Vocals, founded in 1990 to promote the legalization of marijuana. “We haven’t put forth any public notice or anything about the rallies on Patriots Day for years.” (read more at Morning Sentinel)
ROME, Maine — Kitchen gadgets, Old Spice deodorant, an L.L. Bean sleeping bag and handheld electronics — now stuffed in plastic bins — were among the items that Christopher Knight allegedly had taken in more than 1,000 burglaries to nearby camps in order to survive more than a quarter century in the Rome woods. Bins holding the contents of Knight’s last 27 years were piled in the middle of Pine Tree Camp’s dining hall Thursday. Law enforcement dismantled the encampment Thursday where Knight, 47, is believed to have lived for nearly three decades. Members of the media were supposed to visit the site believed to have belonged to the “North Pond Hermit” on Thursday morning, but were ordered by police to leave the property just as they reached the edge of the encampment. (read more at Bangor Daily News)
ROME — Christopher Knight went into the central Maine wilderness 27 years ago. He built a hut on a slope in the woods, where he spent his days reading books and meditating. There he lived: re-entering civilization only to steal supplies from camps under the cover of darkness. During those nearly three decades, he spoke just once to another person — until he was arrested during a burglary last week. In between, Knight told police, he committed more than 1,000 burglaries, always taking only what he needed to survive. He became so familiar for his thievery and elusiveness that he spawned the local legend of the North Pond Hermit, who for years confounded both locals and police investigating the break-ins. In June 2005, the Morning Sentinel published a story about the “hermit of North Pond,” who, it said, “for the last 15 years has been picking his way through dozens of the 300 or so camps around North Pond.” (read more at Kennebec Journal)
GARDINER — Two men were taken to area hospitals Thursday after stabbing each other outside the Maine Avenue Hannaford supermarket, police said. Gardiner Police Chief James Toman said one of the men was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and the second to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta. Toman would not characterize injuries of either man, but he said both were conscious, alert and walking when police arrived. The entire incident occurred outside the store, which was never closed, Toman said. Toman would not identify the men, pending the ongoing police investigation. (read more at Kennebec Journal)
BOSTON — A judge Wednesday refused to drop an unarmed robbery charge against a Maine financial representative police said frightened an elderly Back Bay widower on St. Patrick’s Day weekend when, in a drunken and bloody stupor, he tried to bust down the wrong door — twice. “A residence where an elderly person was awakened and startled? I’m not dismissing this,” Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Hart Summerville barked at Craig H. Leach’s arraignment when a Suffolk assistant district attorney asked that the robbery charge be dismissed for lack of evidence. Summerville agreed to arraign Leach, 24, on charges of malicious destruction of property and disturbing the peace. He told the prosecutor he’d have to file a nolle prosequi on the unarmed robbery charge if he didn’t plan to pursue it at trial. Leach, a Vermont native now living in Kittery, Maine, pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance with the condition he have no contact with the alleged victim, an 82-year-old retiree. (read more at Bangor Daily News)
SUMNER, Maine (AP) — A Maine man involved in a feud with another family over access to a dirt road has been charged with threatening a neighbor with a medieval-style ax. Benjamin Stewart of Sumner, a member of a Renaissance and Middle Ages re-enactment group, was held on $1,000 bail after being charged Wednesday with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon. Police say the 26-year-old Stewart threatened Richard Pothier. The Sun Journal reports Pothier said he reached for his gun and Stewart backed off. (read more at Kennebec Journal)
MILLINOCKET, Maine — People are illegally tapping into maple trees in Maine to steal sap that, when cooked, creates the sweet, dense syrup that sells for about $65 a gallon, Forest Ranger Thomas Liba said Tuesday. Liba, who was in town investigating two sap thefts, said most landowners are not concerned about the stolen sap, but rather the damage done to their trees. “Their business is to grow trees and tapping the trees creates a wound that creates a stain,” Liba said. “The value of that first log [is ruined]. There is a lot money in that first log.” “Last year, some very high value trees were tapped,” said Jeff Currier, the regional forest ranger who oversees activities in southern Washington County as well Hancock, Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. The trees were left damaged with open drill holes and the thieves also left trash behind, he said. (read more at Bangor Daily News)
A 19-year-old man was arrested Friday on charges of indecent conduct and visual sexual aggression against a child. Simeon Welch was charged for allegedly masturbating in the front of a sport utility vehicle while a 4-year-old boy was in the back seat, according to an affidavit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court by Detective David Bucknam, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office. Bucknam was initially contacted by a State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator after an SUV driven by Welch caught fire in a gravel pit in West Gardiner on the evening of May 15. He was accompanied by a 4-year-old boy, and the fire investigator contacted Bucknam to investigate. According to Bucknam’s affidavit, the boy spoke to a forensic interviewer and described Welch “showing his private parts as well as touching it. When asked where this happened, (the boy) stated it happened in the ‘blazer.’” The affidavit indicated the Blazer was the vehicle that burned in the gravel pit. (read more at Morning Sentinel)
