CASCO — A man accused of breaking into a Casco home, dining on the owners’ food and taking a candlelit bath Monday had been arrested in July and charged with keeping more than 50 spiders and scorpions in a Norway motel room.
Sean Schoonmaker, 34, of Norway, was arrested Monday on charges of burglary, theft and violating a protection order after breaking into Ann Hall’s home on Pinkham Road.
Hall later told a reporter that the intruder had also put his own food in the refrigerator, replaced photos and rearranged items on her mantle.
Last summer, a manager at the Inn Town Motel discovered 53 spiders and scorpions in various containers scattered around a room that Schoonmaker had been renting with his girlfriend for 10 days.
Wildlife officials sent the spiders to animal rehab specialist Drew Desjardins in Lewiston, and Schoonmaker was cited for possessing several species that are illegal in Maine.
Hall said she arrived home Monday with her husband and found a strange car in the garage and all the house’s doors locked.
She retreated and called 911 and when five deputies and a police dog got to the scene, they allegedly found Schoonmaker inside Hall’s house, “lounging around and making it his place,” according to Hall.
Schoonmaker was taken to the Cumberland County Jail in Portland and remained there Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear if Schoonmaker, who has a minor criminal record of theft and other charges in the Oxford County area, paid the fines associated with keeping exotic species.
An acquaintance of Schoonmaker said he had been homeless for a time, living in a car with his girlfriend, after leaving the motel where the spiders were found. On his Facebook page, Schoonmaker describes himself as a self-employed driver.
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