YARMOUTH

Robbery suspect had court date for previous crime

The man who allegedly robbed a Yarmouth pharmacy, sparking a high-speed police chase that ended when he crashed his car near Freeport, was a few weeks away from a sentencing hearing for a previous crime, authorities said.

Dylan Libby, 21, was arrested Jan. 27, 2010, for alleged burglary and theft, according to the York County court clerk. His case was placed on deferred disposition, with a final sentencing hearing set for May 14.

But Libby allegedly held up the Rite Aid Pharmacy in Yarmouth on Wednesday, rammed his car into a police officer’s vehicle, and then fled on Route 1 north and then onto Interstate 295.

Libby’s vehicle rolled over when he tried to leave I-295 at Exit 22 in Freeport, injuring him and a passenger, Madeline Damon, 18.

Authorities arraigned Libby Friday in his hospital room at Maine Medical Center, charging him with robbery and eluding police, said Cumberland Assistant District Attorney Matt Tice.

Additional charges are likely, Tice said. Damon has not been charged.

Libby was ordered held on $100,000 property or $50,000 cash, said Tice.

SACO

Packages mailed to Maine held 28 pounds of pot

Two out-of-state men were arrested Thursday after an investigation into two packages of marijuana totaling 28 pounds that were mailed from California to Maine.

Kimsour Lim, 36, of Long Beach, Calif., and Chamroeun Mao, 32, of Lowell, Mass., were charged with felony trafficking in marijuana.

The investigation by Saco police, Maine State Police and U.S. postal inspectors, began earlier this week.

A resident of Smutty Lane in Saco noticed that a package had been delivered to an abandoned home nearby. Suspicions aroused, the resident opened the package, discovered marijuana and called police. The next day, postal inspectors in Portland intercepted a similar package.

The two shipments had a combined street value of $85,000, said Saco Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Holland. The drugs were bound for Massachusetts, he said.

The two packages led police to Lim and Mao, who were arrested during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 southbound on Thursday.

Holland said this is the first time his department has investigated a case that involved drug trafficking by mail.

PORTLAND

Local man, 32, faces assault, criminal threatening charges

A Portland man was arrested on multiple charges Thursday by the U.S. Marshal’s Violent Offender Task Force and Lewiston police.

Alvin Lee Weisberg, 32, was charged with gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact, aggravated assault, criminal threatening and violation of conditions of release in an incident that was reported in February to Westbrook police, the department said.

He was also charged Thursday with failing to appear for a jury trial on a separate matter, according to Westbrook police.

Westbrook and Portland police are investigating additional sexual assault allegations against Weisberg, the release said.

Police are asking people with information about Weisberg to call Westbrook Detective Sgt. Patrick Lally at 854-2531, ext. 414, or Portland Detective Mary Ann Bailey at 874-8533.

KITTERY

Shipyard union says 14 days of furlough still 14 too many

Union officials at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard say they’re still concerned about lost work time despite the Defense Department’s announcement that furlough days will be reduced from 22 to 14.

Furlough notices will be sent out in early May. The furloughs will start in June and last through September. Employees will be furloughed for one day in each of the last 14 weeks of the 2013 budget year.

Paul O’Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council at the Kittery, Maine, shipyard, said it’s still 14 days too many. He said submarine maintenance work could fall behind schedule.

AUGUSTA

Drug agents seize bath salts, arrest suspects in Bangor ring

Maine drug agents have seized a bath salts mailing in Presque Isle and arrested several suspects in an oxycodone ring in Bangor.

In Presque Isle, Maine Drug Enforcement agents and local police on Thursday arrested Joshua Dunn, 25, and took possession of packages containing what drug agents believed to be synthetic cathinones, or bath salts. Agents also seized $900 in cash. Dunn faces trafficking charges and was in jail Friday.

Drug agents said they wrapped up a yearlong criminal investigation of illegal oxycodone sales with arrests in Bangor and Caribou. 

Man guilty of selling pills, hiding income from SSA

An Augusta man has pleaded guilty to selling his OxyContin and hiding income from Social Security officials.

Benjamin Peaslee Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court this week to charges of concealing information material to eligibility for Social Security benefits and making a false statement in a federal matter.

Prosecutors say Peaslee, 61, sold a dozen of the name-brand pills each month for $100 each so he could get cash to buy the next month’s supply of the powerful prescription painkiller while he was getting federal benefits.

He also failed to disclose $1,200 in monthly income to either Social Security or the Department of Health and Human Service.

He will be sentenced at a future date. 

Minimum-wage, tax issues on next week’s agendas

Lawmakers are putting off until next week further debate and action on a minimum wage increase, and a pair of contentious tax-related bills.

The House on Thursday endorsed its earlier vote to raise Maine’s minimum wage to $9 by 2016. But the Senate took no action.

Two tax bills scheduled to be considered in the House Thursday will be on the agenda next week. One would provide tax breaks on investment income and the sale of capital assets; the other would increase the state earned-income credit from 5 percent to 50 percent of the federal credit.

 

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