WATERVILLE – A Clinton woman has been arrested on charges that she helped to plan a robbery attempt this month in which three teenagers have been charged with stabbing a taxi driver.

Christina Pena-Cantor, 33, was arrested at her home at 3 p.m. Wednesday and charged with robbery and criminal conspiracy, Deputy Police Chief Charles Rumsey said.

Police said they believe she is the final person connected to the case.

“We believe she was involved in the planning of the botched robbery, but she was not present for the commission of the crime,” Rumsey said Thursday. “Two of the other co-defendants have implicated her as being present for the discussion of how the crime would be committed.”

Three teenagers — an 18-year-old and two juvenile girls — were charged this month in connection with the stabbing.

One girl, 14, was arrested Dec. 4 when she admitted she had stabbed the cab driver twice, police said. She refused to identify her accomplices.

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A second 14-year-old girl was arrested on Dec. 6 and provided information that helped police identify a male who had been in the taxi with them. The names of the girls have been withheld by police because of their ages.

On Dec. 10, Michael A. Damron, 18, of Waterville was arrested at Waterville Senior High School, where he is a senior.

All three face charges of robbery and elevated aggravated assault.

The stabbing occurred late on Dec. 1, when the driver for G’s Taxi Co. picked up three people in a parking lot beside 69 Water St. in Waterville, police said. He drove them to Willow Street, a short, dead-end street near College Avenue.

The driver said one of the passengers grabbed him from behind, around the throat, and he was then stabbed twice, police said. He honked his horn, sending the three passengers running off. The driver reported the stabbing at 11:27 p.m.

He was taken to the hospital and released the next day. Police said he had been stabbed in the right side of his chest and in his side, around the armpit. He also suffered a cut to his left hand during the attack.

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At the time, Pena-Cantor was renting an apartment on Sherwin Street in Waterville. Damron and the two girls were there before they got into the cab, Rumsey said Thursday. He said Pena-Cantor is not related to any of the teenagers.

Pena-Cantor was arrested Wednesday, charged with robbery and criminal conspiracy, Rumsey said.

She was unable to post the $2,000 cash bail and was taken to the Kennebec County jail. She is due to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 8.

“We don’t anticipate making any other arrests,” Rumsey said. “We believe we have identified and charged all four of the people that were involved.”

On Thursday, Damron remained in the Kennebec County Jail and the two girls were at the Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston, according to police.

Police said they received a tip from the public that led them to identify the first 14-year-old girl, who had no stable place to live and had two outstanding warrants for her arrest.

The second girl also did not have a stable home, according to police. The girls were staying at separate apartments in the city before their arrests, police said.

 


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