WINDHAM

Police identify suspect who posed as deputy, stole cash

Police say they have identified the man accused of posing as an undercover sheriff’s deputy to get money from another man, but they won’t release his name because he has not yet been charged.

The victim told police on Nov. 21 that a man had come to his door the previous night claiming to be an undercover Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy. He told the victim he would be arrested unless he gave the man money, police said.

The victim drove the suspect to a TD Bank ATM in North Windham, where he withdrew an undisclosed amount of money. The victim then dropped the suspect off near Lampron’s Mini Mart on Route 115 in Windham, police said.

Media coverage of the incident and a security photo taken at the ATM led to tips that identified the suspect.

Advertisement

AUGUSTA

Longtime legislator named director of new policy office

Gov. Paul LePage has named longtime legislator Richard Rosen to head the new Governor’s Office of Policy and Management.

Rosen will become the office’s first director on Dec. 6, after he completes his fourth term in the state Senate. Before becoming a senator, he served three terms in the House.

The Office of Policy and Management will be in charge of creating and reviewing budgets across state agencies, facilitating intergovernmental coordination, evaluating the effectiveness of economic incentive programs and delivering economic data.

LePage said Rosen, a Republican from Bucksport, has a proven record of “making the difficult decisions necessary to keep government within its means.” 

Advertisement

Roommate stabber ruled not criminally responsible

A judge has ruled that an Augusta man who stabbed his roommate was not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease.

Malcolm Robert Moore on Tuesday was ordered held at Riverview Psychiatric Center in the custody of the commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services until he is deemed unlikely to cause harm to himself or others.

The Kennebec Journal reported that Moore was indicted in February on a charge of aggravated assault on his roommate, Aaron Brunelle.

Prosecutors said they got into a fight last November after Brunelle told Moore to clean up a mess he made in the kitchen. Brunelle survived.

A mental health professional said Moore was not taking his medication at the time. 

Advertisement

Woman accused of burglary in series of home break-ins

A Dresden woman has been charged in a string of burglaries this summer in Kennebec County.

State police said Sabrina Marino, 23, is charged with three counts of burglary and one count of theft by receiving stolen property stemming from break-ins in Augusta, Manchester and Wayne.

Police said about $5,000 worth of property was taken during the home burglaries, and none of it has been recovered.

Marino was apprehended Nov. 20, when she was a passenger in a car stopped by Kennebec County sheriff’s deputies and Gardiner police.

Her boyfriend is also facing charges.

Advertisement

MOUNT DESERT

Professor lets world know: She has missing scallop guts

The case of the missing scallop guts has been solved.

The tale unfolded Monday when a fisherman put two buckets in the back of a car with University of Maine license plates at a convenience store. It was the wrong car, and the motorist drove away.

It turns out they weren’t just any scallop guts. Andy Mays of Southwest Harbor had been collecting scallops for six months for a project at UMaine’s marine research facility. He had gutted the bivalves, isolated different organs and preserved them in formaldehyde.

The Bangor Daily News said the motorist, a UMaine professor, later noticed the buckets and learned via social media that they contained valuable research. She ended the mystery by posting online, “It is me. I have the scallop guts.”

Advertisement

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Whistleblower protections sought by Collins now law

President Obama has signed into law a Maine senator’s bill to protect federal employees who reveal government waste, fraud, abuse and other wrongdoing.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and her co-sponsor, Hawaii Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka, were present as Obama signed the bill Tuesday in an Oval Office ceremony.

Collins said the law makes it clear that federal employees should not be subject to prior restraint or punishment for disclosing wrongdoing. The law will also give the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel the legal tools needed to enforce the law.

It also requires each agency to educate workers about whistleblower rights.

Advertisement

PORTLAND

Sex offender who failed to register gets 15-month term

A Portland man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II said Darrell Lee Roath, 43, also was sentenced to five years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

Roath pleaded guilty to the charges Aug. 29. He was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

According to court records, Roath was convicted in 1988 in Texas of indecency with a child. It was a crime that required him to register as a sex offender. He moved to Maine in 2009. 

Advertisement

School board nominates Jaimey Caron as chairman

The Portland school board nominated Jaimey Caron as chairman Tuesday night.

Caron, an at-large representative, is serving his second term on the board. District 4 representative Justin Costa was nominated as Finance Committee chairman.

At-large representative Sarah Thompson and District 1 representative Jenna Vendil were re-elected to three-year terms on Nov. 6. Earlier this month, students at each of the three high schools elected a student representative to the board: Madeline Holton of Portland High School, Oliver Nolan of Casco Bay High School and Christopher Thorne of Deering High School.

An inauguration ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Monday in Portland City Hall council chambers. The board will vote on the Caron and Costa nominations at the ceremony. 

Maine wind power slashing carbon pollution, group says

Advertisement

An environmental group says power generation from Maine wind farms is eliminating more than 400,000 metric tons of carbon pollution a year.

Environment Maine on Wednesday released a report that analyzes data from the U.S. Department of Energy and the wind industry to measure the environmental benefits from wind turbines operating in Maine.

The report says the turbines reduce carbon dioxide output by 403,000 metric tons a year, equivalent to the pollution from 79,000 vehicles. It says the wind farms also reduce the output of smog- and soot-forming pollutants, while saving 155 million gallons of water annually.

The group released the analysis to support its position in favor of extending federal tax credits for wind energy that are set to expire at the end of the year. 

Women’s Law Association to honor alumnus Mitchell

Former Senate President Libby Mitchell of Vassalboro will be honored Friday by the Women’s Law Association at the University of Maine School of Law.

Advertisement

Mitchell will receive the Outstanding Alumna Award, which is given each fall to one woman who makes outstanding contributions to the legal community.

Mitchell, 72, was Maine’s first female speaker of the House in 1996 and served nearly continuously in the Legislature from 1974 to 2010. After serving as Senate president from 2008-10, she was the Democratic nominee for governor, finishing third behind Paul LePage and Eliot Cutler.

Mitchell will join other alumni who have won the award, including former U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby, Justice Nancy Mills and Maine Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Leigh Saufley.

Mitchell will be honored at a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday at Glickman Library on Forest Avenue in Portland. The event is free and open to the public.

ROLLINSFORD, N.H.

State board votes to let town send older students to Maine

Advertisement

The New Hampshire Board of Education has given the town of Rollinsford permission to move forward with a plan that could send the town’s older students to school in Maine.

The board’s unanimous vote last week approved Rollinsford’s request to opt out of an agreement that sends the town’s students in grades 7-12 to schools in Somersworth.

If Rollinsford voters approve the change in March, the town would begin sending students to Marshwood High School in 2015. But it would be three years before students in grades 7-12 are attending the school in South Berwick.

Sarah Browning, of the Department of Education, told Fosters Daily Democrat that Rollinsford voters want to make the change because they were unhappy that Somersworth overruled some of their proposals.

ORONO

More than 500 attend service for three killed in plane crash

Advertisement

More than 500 people gathered for a memorial service at the University of Maine on Tuesday night in memory of three fraternity brothers who died in a plane crash.

Members of the university’s Greek community, students, faculty and staff packed an auditorium to remember the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity brothers — David Cheney, 22, of Beverly, Mass., Brazilian exchange student Marcelo Rugini, 24, and 2011 graduate William “B.J.” Hannigan of Portland.

Authorities said the three were killed when their single-engine plane clipped a pickup truck during takeoff at the Knox County Regional Airport in Owls Head on Nov. 16.

School leaders commended fraternity members Tuesday night for how they’ve reacted to the tragedy. After the service, the crowd moved outside for a candlelight vigil.

FAIRFIELD

World Bank education expert chosen for college president

Advertisement

A higher-education specialist with the World Bank has been named the next president of Kennebec Valley Community College.

The Maine Community College System board of trustees endorsed Richard Hopper of Westport Island on Wednesday to become the school’s next president. He will succeed Barbara Woodlee, who will retire in April after 30 years on the job.

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs.

As an education specialist in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region, Hopper has overseen lending operations, grants and technical assistance for education. He also spent a year as chief academic officer for the University of Central Asia.

AUBURN

Man gets 16 years in prison for shooting, robbing man

Advertisement

A Lewiston man who police say lured a 63-year-old meat salesman to an abandoned building with a text message, then shot and tried to rob him, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Steve Anctil pleaded guilty to robbery Tuesday in Androscoggin County Superior Court for the May 23 shooting that left Kristopher Klimek of Naples with a bullet wound to his abdomen. Anctil, 26, was sentenced to 25 years in prison with nine years suspended.

The Sun Journal reported that Anctil’s lawyer says his client accepted the plea deal from the state, in part, because he was facing federal gun sentences that might have lasted just as long.

Prosecutors said Anctil planned to rob Klimek, but ran away empty-handed after shooting him. 

Police say women led them on 20-mile high-speed chase

Police say they arrested a Lewiston woman who led them on a 20-mile car chase through several communities that reached speeds of 80 mph.

Advertisement

Authorities said Heather Kullson, 21, was finally apprehended in Auburn about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The chase began about 6 p.m. when Kullson allegedly fled a traffic stop in Lewiston. The chase went through New Gloucester and Poland, and state police joined in when she drove onto the Maine Turnpike.

Kullson was charged with two counts of eluding police, two counts of arson and one count of aggravated domestic violence assault. Police did not elaborate on the charges, saying the incident is still under investigation.

No one was hurt, but several police vehicles suffered minor damage.

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.