BANGOR

Corinth woman enters plea to stealing drugs from mail

A Corinth woman who worked as a manager at the U.S. Postal Service distribution center in Hampden pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to stealing drugs from mailed packages intended for veterans in eastern Maine.

Michelle Trask, 46, pleaded guilty at her initial court appearance before Judge John Woodcock Jr. to theft of mail matter, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Trask, who was a maintenance manager supervising employees who repaired equipment used to process mail, began intercepting packages in April 2012 sent through a program administered by the Department of Veteran Affairs to veterans, according to court records.

Federal agents caught her on Oct. 13 at the distribution center as she removed several packages from mail bins and brought them back to her office to remove hydrocodone pills inside, according to court records.

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In total, Trask was accused of intercepting packages on 13 occasions before getting caught and of stealing more than 1,400 hydrocodone pills.

She remains free on $5,000 bail, and her sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.

Memorial Bridge not open for bikers or pedestrians

The center span of the new Memorial Bridge connecting New Hampshire and Maine is in place, but that doesn’t mean the bridge is open yet.

The contractor working to get the bridge ready says some bicyclists and pedestrians have tried to cross the bridge, thinking that it had opened to the public. It hasn’t yet.

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Steve Delgrosso, project manager of the bridge for Archer Western Contractors, said the bridge is still an active construction site. The center span was floated into place Monday, but much work remains before it’s ready for traffic.

The bridge connecting Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine, is scheduled to open sometime in July.

LEWISTON

Two people hospitalized after brawl involving 50

At least two people were hospitalized after a street brawl that may have involved as many as 50 people.

Witnesses told the Sun Journal that one man was taken to Central Maine Medical Center after a group of people beat him with wooden and aluminum baseball bats during the brawl, reported about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

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A woman was also knocked unconscious, but had regained consciousness by the time she was transported to the hospital.

What led to the fight was not immediately clear.

Police who arrived at the scene interviewed several people but there was no immediate word on any arrests.

 


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