AUGUSTA

Lawyer gets 10-day term for failure to pay taxes

A lawyer will spend 10 days behind bars for failing to file and pay state taxes for six years running.

The remainder of a 120-day sentence imposed on Alan F. Harding, 58, a Presque Isle lawyer, was suspended, and he was ordered to spend a year on administrative release with conditions that he file and pay all taxes.

Justice Donald Marden imposed the 10-day jail term Friday in Kennebec County Superior Court, and ordered Harding to report to the Aroostook County Jail on Dec. 27.

In June, Harding was convicted of six counts each of failure to file and failure to pay state income taxes for 2005 through 2010. The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Gregg Bernstein, said Harding’s annual income varied between $140,000 and $225,000 during that time.

Harding’s defense attorney, Walter McKee, said Friday that Harding paid all state taxes and fees — about $100,000 — in March, and in January paid several hundred thousand dollars in back federal taxes. At the sentencing, a half-dozen people described Harding’s devotion to the community and his family, especially to his father and to his younger brother, who is paralyzed and lives in a nursing home.

The Board of Overseers of the Bar is seeking Harding’s immediate, indefinite suspension from the practice of law. A disciplinary hearing is set for Nov. 2-3.

PORTLAND

Pedestrian hospitalized after hit-and-run accident

Police were investigating a hit-and-run accident Sunday that sent a local man to the hospital.

Lt. Gary Hutcheson said Eric Francis, 19, of Cumberland Avenue was hit while crossing the intersection of Cumberland and Washington avenues around 7:30 p.m. during a steady rain. The driver of the car, which was described as a gray Ford sedan, fled the scene and remained at large late Sunday.

Francis was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Maine Medical Center.

DOVER-FOXCROFT

Woman suffers injuries when ATV runs into trees

A 40-year-old woman was hospitalized after an early morning all-terrain vehicle accident in central Maine.

The Maine Warden Service said Tricia LaBree, of Sangerville, was traveling with two other ATV riders when she lost control on an ATV trail in Dover-Foxcroft and crashed into trees. She was taken to Mayor Regional Hospital, where officials said she was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

— From staff and news services