KITTERY

Three women arrested on prostitution charges in sting

Kittery police arrested three women on prostitution and other charges Wednesday as the result of an undercover sting.

Interim Police Chief Ted Short said the women, including one from Biddeford and another from South Portland, were arrested at a local hotel following separate attempts to solicit sex.

Short refused to identify the hotel, but said an undercover police officer used advertisements he found on two Internet sites — Backpage and Craigslist — to meet the women.

Amy Boutin, 34, of Biddeford and Nedra Levasseur, 30, of South Portland were each charged with engaging in prostitution, possession of a scheduled drug and violations of conditions of release. Ryanne McCann, 26, of Rollingsford, N.H., was charged with engaging in prostitution.

“We want to send a strong message that this type of activity is not going to be tolerated in Kittery and those violating laws relating to prostitution will face criminal prosecution,” Short said, in a statement.

AUBURN

Hunter indicted in shooting death of a fellow hunter

A man from Wales has been indicted on manslaughter and other charges in the shooting death of a fellow hunter in November.

Christopher Austin of Wales was charged Wednesday in the death of Gerard Parent, 49, on Nov. 20.

The Sun Journal reports that the indictment says Austin, 41, caused the death “recklessly or with criminal negligence.”

Austin also was charged with firing his hunting rifle within 100 yards of a building or residential building without permission of the owner.

The Maine Warden Service says the two men were shooting at the same deer in Wales and one of Austin’s shots hit Parent in the chest and killed him.

POLAND

Fire station addition under construction collapses in wind

An 8,000-square-foot addition to the Poland Fire Station that is under construction collapsed in high winds early Thursday morning.

Fire and Rescue Chief Mark Bosse said firefighters had just returned from a traffic accident around 4 a.m. when they heard a bang.

Bosse said no one was inside the wood-framed addition, a $2.3 million project to house offices, provide training and storage space, and be used as sleeping quarters for firefighters.

The addition will have to be rebuilt, but at no cost to the town, Bosse said. The collapse will delay the project by about three weeks. PM Construction of Saco started the project six weeks ago.

It will be business as usual at the town’s fire station — a brick and mortar structure that was unaffected by the collapse.

“It was caused by a freak of nature,” Bosse said Thursday night. “We’ll pick up the pieces tomorrow.”

PORTLAND

Police looking for bicyclist in two purse-snatch incidents

Police are looking for a bicycle-riding purse snatcher who has struck twice in the past week.

A 54-year-old woman told police she was at Oak and Free streets talking on her cellphone near her car when a man rode up on a bicycle and grabbed her purse off her shoulder, police said.

She was knocked to the ground, but not injured, police said. The man was wearing black clothes with a dark-hooded sweatshirt and riding a black bicycle, she said.

On Sunday, a Scarborough woman told police that at 8:30 p.m. she was walking on the sidewalk in front of 145 Commercial St. when a cyclist rode past her and grabbed her purse.

Her male friend tried to chase the robber, but he got away, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 874-8533. 

Man held for false report of a shooting in downtown

A Portland man who police say called 911 to report a shooting in downtown Portland early Thursday morning has been charged with filing a false report.

Police say Jermaine T. Hill, 32, a transient, called police at 12:20 a.m. to say that a man had been shot in the stomach and was bleeding badly at the corner of Wilmot Street and Cumberland Avenue, and that the gunman was still in the area.

Police dispatched 10 officers, and the Fire Department had two engines and an ambulance ready to respond.

Hill gave the dispatcher the name Thomas Hill when he called. When officers couldn’t find a victim, they started looking for the caller. Dispatchers determined that the cellphone call had come from the Monument Square area, police said.

Officers converged on the area and saw Hill. While they were talking to him, his cellphone rang. It was police dispatchers calling back the number from which the shooting was reported.

Hill tried to say that somebody else named Thomas Hill had borrowed his phone then left, police said.

Making a false report is a misdemeanor. Hill was held in the Cumberland County Jail on $750 bail. Police say Hill’s motives are unclear.

BANGOR

Man charged for assault with field hockey stick

Police have charged a man with assaulting a woman with a field hockey stick.

Police responded to a 911 call at about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday from a man who said he was attacked by two men and a woman who had knives and brass knuckles.

When police caught up with the man who made the call, Christopher Stone, 29, he told them he had been attacked in a dispute over a cellphone. Stone was carrying a field hockey stick.

The responding officer became suspicious because Stone had no injuries consistent with being assaulted with knives or brass knuckles.

Police determined Stone was the aggressor and had used the stick to beat a woman about the upper body and head. He was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses.

AUGUSTA

Suspect in year’s first NYC homicide sought in Maine

Police are searching for a man wanted in connection with New York City’s first homicide of the year.

Deputy Police Chief Jarred Mills told WZON-AM that Raymond Mayrant was seen early Wednesday at a Motel 6, inquiring whether a passport is needed to cross into Canada.

Police have issued a bulletin for a stolen Black Nissan Altima he’s believed to be driving.

Police in New York say Mayrant, 25, shot his girlfriend and her mother during an argument on Jan. 3. The mother, Elzina Brown, 59, died at the scene.

LITCHFIELD

Selectmen vote to ban weddings at Town Office

Selectmen voted 3-0 Tuesday to ban weddings at the Town Office.

Town Manager Michael Byron had recommended against allowing town employees who are notaries to conduct weddings at the office.

The issue arose after a same-sex couple got a marriage license New Year’s Eve, but was denied their request for one of the town’s notaries to conduct a ceremony.

“With all the calls on municipal clerks for regular services, they don’t have the time,” Byron said.

Rich Hirschmann, who wanted to be married that day, said later that a policy was needed because the request created confusion.