PORTLAND

New York man gets a year in prison for credit-card fraud

A New York man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to a year in prison for conspiracy to commit credit-card fraud.

Kenny Deras, 25, of Bronx, N.Y., also was ordered to pay $101,610.29 in restitution and to three years of supervised release.

Deras, who pleaded guilty in April, had traveled with two others from New York to New Hampshire and Maine in 2011. They used counterfeit American Express cards to buy gift cards and other merchandise at a number of Walmart stores, according to a court document filed by the government. One of the stores was in Biddeford.

The two other defendants, Shaheem Shaw and Mark Daniel, already have been sentenced to seven months and 15 months, respectively. 

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Final project on Jordan’s Meats site set to begin in fall

Opechee Construction expects to break ground this fall on an estimated $18 million mixed-use development on Fore Street, according to the company’s president.

Mark Woglom, president of the New Hampshire-based company, said he expects construction to begin in late October on the development bordered by Fore, India and Middle streets.

The project, with 180,000 square feet of office, residential and retail space, will take about 16 months, he said.

The Planning Board voted 4-0 Tuesday night to approve the project, said Barbara Barhydt, the city’s development review manager.

Woglom said tenants already have committed to the project, but he would not say who or what types of businesses they were.

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The project, which received a $650,000 tax break to help pay for utility work, will complete the redevelopment of the former Jordan’s Meats site.

SACO

Man sentenced for tricking elderly woman out of $90K

A Saco man was sentenced to more than five years in prison for bilking an elderly York woman out of more than $90,000 for unneeded or substandard home improvement jobs and yard work, police said.

Billy Jack Adams, 34, was arrested Feb. 7 after police, working with the victim’s family and a local bank, determined much of the work done at the woman’s house was unnecessary or substandard, police Sgt. Thomas Cryan said in a press release. Adams also was convicted of forging a check that had been made payable to someone else so that he could get the money.

Adams also is being investigated for similar behavior in Haverhill, Mass., Cryan said.

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Adams was sentenced Aug. 9 to six years on the felony theft charge and five years on the forgery charge, both sentences running concurrently, Cryan said.

LISBON

$10,000 reward offered for information on hit-and-run

Friends and relatives of a Lisbon man left bleeding and unresponsive on the side of the road by a hit-and-run driver have raised a $10,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction.

Reney Henry, an electrician at Bath Iron Works, was riding his bicycle on Route 136 last September when he was hit from behind. He was thrown from his bicycle and landed on his head.

Jasmin Turgeon, a Lisbon postal carrier, saw what happened and stopped. She told the Sun Journal that Henry, 52, flipped in the air. Turgeon described the hit-and-run car as a dark gray or silver sedan with tinted windows.

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Henry suffered bleeding in his brain, a concussion and damage to his eye socket. He was hospitalized for a week.

BANGOR

‘Prolific’ northern Maine drug smuggler sentenced

A man described by prosecutors “as one of the most prolific drug smugglers in Maine” has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison on drug and money laundering charges.

Paul Corbin of the northern Maine community of St. David also was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Bangor to four years of probation and ordered to forfeit more than $100,000 in cash along with guns and heavy equipment.

Prosecutors say that from 2000 and 2011, Corbin, 55, brought hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Canada and organized its distribution through a series of dealers in Maine, Connecticut, New York and Michigan.

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He also laundered the proceeds of the drug sales through legitimate snow-plowing and gravel-sorting businesses.

The Bangor Daily News reports that Corbin apologized in court. 

Drunken driver in crash that left teen paralyzed gets jail time

A Brewer man authorities say was drunk when he crashed his car and left his teenage passenger paralyzed has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail.

Gordon Cameron was sentenced Tuesday to six years behind bars with all but two and a half suspended, and three years of probation. The Bangor Daily News reports he was also ordered to pay a $2,100 fine and lost his license for six years.

Cameron, 27, pleaded guilty in June to aggravated assault and criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants in connection with the March 2011 crash. Sentencing was delayed after the victim, who uses a wheelchair, objected to the two-year sentence agreed upon.

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Prosecutors say Cameron and the victim were arguing before the crash. Cameron has apologized. 

Drummer pleads not guilty in July golf cart incident

The drummer for rocker Ted Nugent has pleaded not guilty to operating under the influence of intoxicants, driving to endanger, theft and assault following a joyride in a golf cart after a concert in Maine.

The plea was entered on the behalf of Nick Brown, 55, by his defense lawyer on Wednesday.

Brown is accused of stealing a golf cart from a concert venue and driving recklessly on a footpath after Nugent’s concert on July 8 on the Bangor waterfront.

The Bangor Daily News says Brown, of Cave Creek, Ariz., remains free on $4,000 bail. His next court date has not been scheduled.

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ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Canadian man arrested for exposing himself on beach

A Canadian man has been arrested for allegedly exposing himself and masturbating publicly at Sand Beach in Acadia National Park.

Bodo T. Schmidt, 65, of Morrisburg, Ontario, faces a federal charge of indecent conduct. Schmidt pleaded not guilty to the charge Wednesday. Bond was set at $1,000 cash.

The offense carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a fine of $10,000.

National Park Service rangers began investigating the allegations after several visitors reported three separate incidents on three parts of the beach around the same time Tuesday.

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One of the alleged incidents took place within the view of young girls, according to an affidavit filed by Richard Rechholtz, a supervisory ranger. Another took place within view of a man’s daughter and her friend, whose ages were not provided in the document released Wednesday.

AUGUSTA

Losing bidder for natural gas contract calls process flawed

The losing bidder for a state natural gas contract argues that the bidding process was ambiguous and flawed and should be reopened with a more clearly written request for proposals.

Summit Natural Gas of Maine went before a state board on Tuesday to argue its case.

Summit said its $150 million plan created more jobs.

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The winning proposal by Maine Natural Gas Corp. would create 46 jobs with a $19.3 million investment.

The state asked for bids to supply natural gas to state property on both sides of the Kennebec River in Augusta.

Maine Natural Gas officials said they won the bid in a fair, if imperfect, process.

The sides have until Aug. 24 to submit final written closing statements. The panel would then issue a decision.

BOSTON

Study: Underwater noise disturbing right whales

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A study off the Massachusetts coast has concluded that increasing amounts of underwater noise, largely from shipping traffic, is surrounding rare right whales in an “acoustic smog,” making it harder for them to communicate.

The endangered North Atlantic right whale relies far more on sound than sight, using distinctive noises to maintain contact.

A paper by federal scientists and Cornell University researchers published Wednesday estimates that in the last 50 years, the area where the whales can effectively communicate in Stellwagen Bank and surrounding waters off Massachusetts has fallen by two-thirds because of the noise.

They say that’s cutting down on the animals’ ability to gather and share vital information that helps them find food, avoid predators, reproduce and protect their young.

SHERMAN

Town’s 150th anniversary celebrated with postmark

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The U.S. Postal Service says the Sherman Post Office will offer a special pictorial postmark to commemorate the northern Maine town’s 150th anniversary.

On Labor Day, Sept. 3, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a postal booth will be set up at the Molunkus Lodge at 2 Church St.

Postmaster William Mehrhoff and his staff will stamp letters and postcards with a unique postmark documenting the event. Specially authorized by the Postal Service, the special postmark serves as an inexpensive souvenir of the occasion.

 


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