A midcoast man who spent several years in prison for motor vehicle manslaughter has been returned to prison after crashing his car into another vehicle in Portland and fleeing the scene.

No one was hurt in the more recent crash on Feb. 20, but John P. Allen, 59, of Thomaston, was on probation when it occurred.

He had been convicted and sentenced to prison in 2007 after driving his car into a sports utility vehicle, killing 44-year-old Harold Weisbein of Topsham, a well-known college instructor.

At an appearance last month in West Bath District Court, Allen admitted violating several terms of his probation – he was released from prison in December 2012. Judge Susan Sparaco ordered him to serve an additional two-year prison term.

District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau, who prosecuted the 2006 manslaughter case, said in a statement Wednesday that the February crash “was disturbingly similar to the 2006 fatal crash.”

“In each case John Allen chose to drive after suspension. In each case he had access to powerful narcotics. He caused devastating harm in 2006. In this case, by comparison, the harm was minor. However, he continues to be a risk to the public anytime he gets behind the wheel of a car. Revocation of his probation was clearly appropriate,” Rushlau said.

On Feb. 20, Allen drove into a vehicle that had come to a stop at an intersection in Portland, Rushlau said.

At the time, his license was under suspension. Allen fled the accident scene but was tracked down by Portland police.

After the accident, probation authorities discovered that Allen had recently obtained prescriptions from three different doctors for oxycodone, vicodin and suboxone.

“By doing so he (Allen) violated a special probation condition requiring him to obtain all prescriptions from a single provider,” Rushlau said.

A blood test following the 2006 fatal crash revealed that Allen had been using oxycodone and methadone at the time, drugs for which he had legitimate prescriptions.

Allen, then living in Bath, was driving with a suspended license when his Hyundai sedan slammed into Weisbein’s Nissan Pathfinder on Interstate 295 in Topsham, striking the sports utility vehicle with such force that it somersaulted.

Weisbein taught college courses in economics, business and law at Southern Maine Community College and other local schools.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com