HERMON

Apartment invasion suspect, one of two men shot, dies

Additional Photos

Louis Bilodeau of West Poland takes advantage of Thursday’s nice weather by enjoying the sun in a beach chair at Pine Point Beach in Scarborough. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Maine State Police say one of the two men shot after they allegedly forced themselves into an apartment in central Maine has died.

Police are not releasing the names of either man.

Sgt. Mike Burgess of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department said police were called at 9:45 a.m. Thursday after two men and a woman burst into an apartment on Route 2 in Hermon shared by two men in their 20s.

Burgess said one of men who lived there pulled out a small handgun and fired three shots, hitting the two men.

Burgess said the injured men then drove themselves to a Bangor hospital for medical treatment.

One of them died Thursday and the other was treated then released from the hospital, after being charged by the sheriff’s department.

BANGOR

Maine man, Canadian woman held in pill smuggling case

A Maine man and a Canadian woman have been charged with trying to smuggle hundreds of methamphetamine pills into the U.S. by hiding them in secret door panels in their car.

Authorities say Caleb Jewett, 20, of Mars Hill and Patricia Smith, 24, of Perth Andover, New Brunswick, were arrested last week at the Bridgewater Port of Entry, north of Houlton.

They are being held without bail pending detention hearings expected to be held next week.

With the help of a drug-sniffing dog, 786 methamphetamine pills were found hidden in the rear doors.

The Bangor Daily News reports that Smith and Jewett are charged with importation of 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine.

It was not clear if they had hired lawyers.

AUGUSTA

Charter School Commission to hold statewide forums

The new Maine State Charter School Commission will hold public forums across the state in early March to learn about educational needs that could be addressed by charter schools, says the Maine Department of Education.

Forums will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. March 1 in the cafeteria at Deering High School in Portland, 6:30 to 8 p.m. March 8 at the United Technologies Center in Bangor, and 10:30 a.m. to noon March 15 in Room 500 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta.

The commission is considered an “authorizer” under Maine’s new public charter school law, which means it can authorize as many as 10 publicly funded charter schools statewide in the first 10 years.

Local school boards can authorize additional public charter schools that don’t count toward the commission’s 10-school limit.

Under the law, an authorizer can seek proposals for a charter school that meets a particular educational need, and any nonprofit, nonreligious organization may respond.

People who are unable to attend a public forum are invited to offer their input via email at scscmaine@gmail.com.

For more information about the Maine State Charter School Commission and Maine’s public charter school law, visit the commission’s Web page.

LEWISTON

Suspects in Lewiston bank heist arrested in Windham

Police worked quickly to nab two suspects in a Lewiston bank robbery, and authorities are now looking into whether the pair is involved in other heists.

A branch of the Auburn Savings bank was robbed by somebody who showed a gun at about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. No one was hurt.

A witness gave police a description of the getaway vehicle, and the car was pulled over about an hour later in Windham.

Police arrested Paul Sans, 29, and Maria Mattson, 30, both of Westbrook, and charged them with robbery.

Windham police are investigating whether Sans and Mattson are connected to a bank robbery in that community last week.

Federal authorities are expected to join the investigation.

WORCESTER, Mass.

Man pleads not guilty in 1994 death without a body

A Worcester man has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the 1994 disappearance of a man whose body has never been found.

Elias Samia was ordered held without bail after his arraignment Thursday in Worcester Superior Court. He was arrested Wednesday in the disappearance of 36-year-old Kevin Harkins.

Police also arrested John Fredette, 49, in South Portland, Maine, where he is being held on a fugitive charge. He also faces a murder charge.

The arrests were made 18 years to the day after Harkins disappeared after leaving a bar. Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said Harkins left personal items at Suney’s Pub when he was called outside by an acquaintance.

He got into a car with several other men and was never seen again. A probate court declared him dead in 2008.

BIDDEFORD

Councilor resigning to head three weekly newspapers

A city councilor is resigning his post to become publisher of three weekly newspapers in York County owned by Westbrook-based Current Publishing.

David Flood, former publisher of Mainely Newspapers’ six weekly publications, will become president of York County Publishing, a subsidiary of Current Publishing, and publisher of the Sun Chronicle, the Reporter and the Weekly Observer.

Flood, who started Mainely Newspapers and its Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier in 1989, expanded the company to include five more papers, and then sold the assets in 2007 to Mainely Media Inc., according to a news release from Current Publishing.

CORNISH

26-year-old driver dies after car crashes into rock

A 26-year-old Maine man died after his car veered off the road and crashed into a large rock in Cornish.

The York Sheriff’s Office says Brenden Lowenberg was killed about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when his car went off Route 25.

Police say Lowenberg had died by the time rescue crews arrived.

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