HAMPDEN

State police investigating apparent murder-suicide

State police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving a middle-aged woman and man at a home on Marina Road.

Police responded to a call around 7 a.m. from a 54-year-old man who said there had been a homicide and he planned to kill himself, according to a news release from Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland.

McCausland said the woman, 53-year-old Katherine Hunt, was in the process of breaking up with the man, which led to the violence.

The State Police Tactical Team entered the house around noon and found in the kitchen two bodies that had been shot, McCausland said.

The man’s name will not be released until his next of kin are located.

The man moved here last July from Jacksonville, Fla., to live with Hunt, according to the release..

PORTLAND

Teen charged in fatal crash won’t spend any time in jail

A teenager who was driving at the time of a fatal crash in Harrison in 2010 won’t do any jail time and had the most serious charge against her, manslaughter, dropped.

Under a plea deal, Morgan Kesseli pleaded guilty to lesser charges Friday and will be on probation until she is 21.

Kesseli, now 19, was charged in connection with the death of a passenger, Thomas McLendon, 19. of Oxford. Two other male passengers, 20 and 21, were badly injured in the crash.

Police said excessive speed was a primary factor in the crash, in which the sport utility vehicle that Kesseli was driving crossed the centerline and hit some trees. Kesseli was 17 at the time.

Her lawyers, J.P. DeGrinney and Peter J. Richard Jr., said in a statement that their client was not intoxicated or texting at the time of the crash.

Police initially concluded that excessive speed was the primary cause of the crash, but subsequent investigation showed that driver inexperience and wet road conditions also were significant factors.

Kesseli pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault, one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and one count of aggravated driving to endanger. 

County graduates first-ever class of police Explorers

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office’s first Explorer academy class — teenagers who have an interest in law enforcement and participate in a weeklong overnight program — graduated Thursday.

Eight cadets, who are members of Explorer Post No. 3, graduated at a ceremony held at St. Joseph’s College in Standish where they studied traffic control, forensics and crime prevention.

They will now volunteer to help police much like Volunteers in Police Service do, assisting with non-law enforcement related activities.

HOLLIS

Domestic disturbance leaves deputy injured, man jailed

A Hollis man is in jail and a York County Sheriff’s deputy is recovering from injuries following a domestic disturbance Thursday night.

A woman asked for a deputy’s help to avoid a fight with her partner when she went to collect belongings and her child at a home on Bar Mills Road in Hollis at 8 p.m.

Deputy Peter Nelson accompanied her and at the house encountered Bruce Blake, 47. Blake ordered Nelson to leave and then tried to force him out, police said.

Nelson called for backup and during the struggle that followed, received a cut to his finger and sprains to his wrist and neck, police said.

Deputies used a Taser on Blake twice before he could be taken into custody, police said. Blake was held on $2,500 bail pendng a court appearance Friday afternoon.

ROCKLAND

Rockland man convicted in death of ex-girlfriend

A Rockland man has been convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend.

A jury in Knox County Superior Court found 37-year-old Arnold Diana guilty of murder Thursday after about four hours of deliberations.

The state’s medical examiner said 48-year-old Katherine Windred died of strangulation in November 2010. Prosecutors said she was killed in Diana’s apartment while her 11-year-old son was waiting outside in her car reading comic books.

Diana will be sentenced later this year. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

Prosecutors said there was overwhelming evidence that Diana killed Windred after finding out she was involved with another man.

WINDHAM

Police officer suing town, alleges sex discrimination

A Windham police officer has filed a federal lawsuit against the town saying she was the victim of sexual discrimination and retaliation.

Danielle Nelson had filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission in 2010 about the behavior of another officer and the department’s handling of it. The commission sided with her, and the town and Nelson were going to attempt to reach a settlement, with the commission overseeing the talks.

It appears that that effort was unsuccessful, since Nelson filed a civil rights claim in U.S. District Court on Thursday against the town.

Nelson, who returned to work in Windham in the spring, repeatedly lodged complaints with superiors in 2009 about the behavior of a fellow officer, identified by her attorney as Mark Dougan. Nelson alleged repeated cases of unwelcome touching and sexually suggestive comments, as well as a department that ignored her and then turned on her when she complained.

Dougan was fired in October 2009, but even after the firing, Nelson reported that other members of the department shunned her. Nelson says the stress of discrimination and retaliation affected her physical and emotional well-being.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, says the town knew or should have known it needed to take action against Dougan as early as March 2009 but did not take action until October, seven months later.

AUGUSTA

Higher education funding to top bond issues on ballot

Funding for the state’s colleges and universities will get the top spot among bond issues on the Nov. 6 Maine ballot, Secretary of State Charlie Summers determined by a drawing Friday.

Maine law requires a drawing process for ballot position. But it also says that people’s veto questions must go first, followed by citizen initiatives. That means Question 1 on the ballot will be the initiative on whether the state should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The first bond question will be whether to borrow $11.3 million for capital improvements for the University of Maine System, community college system and Maine Maritime Academy.

That will be followed by $5 million to purchase land and conservation easements, $51.5 million for improvements to highways, bridges and other transportation facilities, and $7.9 million for clean water projects. 

No federal funds available for post-storm cleanup

Maine Emergency Management Agency officials have determined after talking with their federal counterparts that the state won’t qualify for help from Washington to pay for fixing damage from a severe rainstorm in late June.

Staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted a survey of the area around the towns of Brownville, Milo and Patten at the request of Gov. Paul LePage to see if damage might reach the threshold for FEMA funding of $1.8 million. It came in a bit under $700,000.

Extensive road washouts resulted when 8 inches of rain fell on parts of the state in three hours.

The Maine Department of Transportation estimates it performed close to $300,000 of repairs in Piscataquis County because of the storm. 

State to get over $1 million in drug-pricing settlement

Maine will receive more than $1 million from McKesson Corp. as part of an agreement that will pay $151 million to 29 states and the District of Columbia to settle a lawsuit alleging that the company inflated prices of hundreds of prescription drugs, causing state Medicaid programs to overpay millions of dollars in reimbursements, officials said Friday.

The agreement with San Francisco-based McKesson, one of the country’s largest drug wholesalers, settles allegations the company deliberately inflated drug prices by as much as 25 percent from 2001 to 2009.

Maine will receive just over $1.4 million in the settlement, Attorney General William Schneider’s office said.

An investigation by state and federal agencies found that McKesson overbilled for more than 1,400 brand-name drugs from 2001 to 2009. They include commonly prescribed medications such as Adderall, Allegra, Ambien, Celexa, Lipitor, Neurontin, Prevacid, Prozac and Ritalin, officials said.

BANGOR

Man removed from movie after comment on shootings

A Waterville man who made a comment about the recent Batman movie shootings in Colorado was searched by police and then barred from the movie.

The Bangor Daily News reported that while buying tickets for Wednesday’s showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” at a Bangor Mall theater, the man asked at what point during the movie did the Colorado shootings occur. The man and his daughter then left the theater.

Police say that when they returned that night, worried theater employees called police, who found the man inside the cinema.

After confirming that the man did not have any weapons in his possession, police escorted him out of the cinema. He was not charged and received a refund for the tickets he purchased.

OWENSBORO, Ky.

Mainer convicted of taking girl, 13, across state lines

A Bristol, Maine, man has been found guilty of transporting a 13-year-old Kentucky girl across state lines to engage in sexual activity.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a federal jury in Owensboro convicted 45-year-old Archie M. Whalen on Thursday.

Whalen was found guilty of taking the girl in 2009 from her home in Owensboro to Sturgeon Bay, Wis. The girl was found a day after an Amber Alert was issued.

Officials said Whalen met the girl when she and her mother lived briefly in Maine.

Whalen is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 19. The maximum potential penalties are life in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release for five years to life.

 

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