A Scarborough man has been indicted on double manslaughter charges in connection with a crash on Route 202 in Winthrop last November that killed a husband and wife.

Jeffrey E. Ray, 44, was served a summons on the charges Wednesday, alleging that he acted “recklessly or with criminal negligence,” according to records unsealed in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta.

Ray, who is free without restrictions, is scheduled for arraignment Sept. 9 in Superior Court, where he will enter a plea. Both of the charges against him are class A crimes that carry a potential 30-year prison sentence.

Ray’s driving record includes a number of suspensions and convictions, including operating under the influence and operating after suspension, according to records at the Secretary of State’s office.

Napoleon Richard St. Laurent, 80, was killed instantly in the crash on Nov. 21. His wife, 74-year-old Patricia St. Laurent, was flown to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and died there four days later. The Winthrop couple would have celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary the next day.

The couple had five children and were foster parents to several more, according to their obituary. The family Thursday declined to comment on Ray’s indictment.

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Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney would not specify what Ray was allegedly doing at the time of the crash that constituted criminal negligence, or why he had been charged with manslaughter. Ray was not intoxicated, Maloney said.

The investigation by Maine State Police and Winthrop police may have taken a long time to develop, Maloney said, but it ultimately led to enough evidence to convince a grand jury that the manslaughter charges were warranted.

“They painstakingly went through every piece of evidence and were able to reconstruct the entire accident,” Maloney said. “We were able to make the case that Jeffrey Ray was behaving recklessly at the time of the crash.”

That reckless behavior could include criminal speed or some other criminal act that led to the crash. The speed limit where the crash occurred is 45 mph.

“If you’re operating your vehicle at a place where a law’s being broken, that’s acting with criminal negligence and recklessness,” Maloney said.

The crash occurred shortly before 9 a.m. as the St. Laurents’ 1996 Ford E-150 van was stopped in the eastbound lane waiting to make a left turn onto Royal Street in Winthrop.

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Ray, driving a 2007 Mitsubishi box truck east on Route 202, hit the van from behind, police said. The impact pushed both vehicles into the guardrail and down the road before stopping against the guardrail.

The van, owned by JA & Sons, an automotive repair business in Winthrop that St. Laurent owned with his son, and the box truck, owned by Lewiston-based Pure-Stat, were both destroyed.

Ray also was was flown to CMMC after the crash and was later released.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Thursday that Ray’s driver’s license was valid at the time of the Winthrop crash. His license is still active, although he is required to use an ignition locking device that prevents him from starting his vehicle without first verifying his blood alcohol level.

Ray, who was charged with operating under the influence in February, also was convicted of OUI in 2002, according to Dunlap’s records. Ray’s driver’s license has also been suspended 12 times and he has 23 convictions that include operating after suspension, speeding, failure to provide proof of insurance, operating an unregistered vehicle and operating a vehicle without an inspection sticker.

“He’s had a bunch of speeding tickets going back to 1985,” Dunlap said.

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Ray was involved in two other crashes besides the one in November. Those crashes, one in 1990 and the other in 1996, caused no injuries, Dunlap said.

Ray has not yet listed a defense attorney with the court, and attempts to reach him for comment Thursday were unsuccessful. A man who answered the phone Thursday at Pure-Stat confirmed that Ray still worked for the company, but said that Ray was off until next week.

Craig Crosby ccan be contacted at 621-5642, or at:

ccrosby@centralmaine.com


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