NEWFIELD

Woman flown to hospital after crash; charges likely

A Newfield woman had to be flown by LifeFlight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland on Tuesday after her car was struck head-on by a pickup truck.

William L. King Jr., chief deputy of the York County Sheriff’s Office, said the victim, 20-year-old Emily Mee, was driving a 2003 Dodge Neon on Water Street in Newfield when a 2004 Ford F250 heading in the opposite direction crossed the centerline and hit Mee’s car head-on.

King said pickup truck driver, Steven Boivin, 53, of Waterboro, told police he bent over to pick up his cellphone just before the crash.

Mee was trapped in her car for about 20 minutes. The Newfield Fire Department extricated her from the wreckage and placed her on the helicopter.

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Mee was listed in satisfactory condition Tuesday night by a spokeswoman for the Portland hospital.

King said the crash remains under investigation and he expects charges will be filed against Boivin. The crash took place around 3:55 p.m.

PORTLAND

Felon sentenced to 10 years for possession of handguns

A felon from Androscoggin County who was convicted of illegally possessing two handguns was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland to serve 10 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Robert Kelly Carter, 50, of Lisbon pleaded guilty before Judge Nancy Torresen on Dec. 12 to a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon.

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Torresen said she imposed the maximum statutory sentence of 10 years because she believed Carter was a danger to the community, particularly to the women with whom he shares personal relationships, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Carter, who was on probation for a 2007 conviction for sexual abuse in the first degree in Kentucky, was found in possession of a loaded .38 special Colt revolver and a Brescia Model 9 pistol when his supervising Maine probation officer searched his Lisbon home on Sept. 18. Carter also had felony convictions in Indiana in 2001 and 2004, according to court records.

Court records show the probation officer was alerted that Carter had guns in his home by Carter’s girlfriend, who called to report that she was concerned that his mental health was declining and that he was threating to shoot people in the wake of last year’s shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard that killed 13 people.

 

More than $3.7 million owed in unpaid parking tickets

The city of Portland is owed more than $3.7 million in unpaid parking tickets at a time when it is considering raising property taxes to boost the budget.

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WGME-TV reported that more than 171,000 parking tickets issued in the city have gone unpaid since 2008.

The city’s power to collect on those unpaid tickets is limited. A vehicle can’t get booted or towed until it has three unpaid tickets.

And unlike some states, Maine doesn’t require parking tickets to be paid before it will allow a driver to renew a license or update a vehicle’s registration.

Efforts to tie unpaid tickets to renewals have failed in the Legislature.

Still, about 75 percent of the tickets issued each year are paid, and about $2 million in parking fines is collected annually.

 

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High court orders new trial in lawsuit over lead paint

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ordered a new trial in the case of a Solon family who unsuccessfully sued their landlord in 2009 with a claim that lead paint in a rented home caused their children to suffer learning disabilities and health issues.

Paula Bratton and Daniel Hills filed the lawsuit against landlord Halsey McDonough. A Somerset County Superior Court jury decided in 2012 that McDonough was not negligent in the case. The higher court ruled on Tuesday that the ruling came after “a fundamentally unfair trial.”

The Supreme Judicial Court issued an opinion Tuesday that cited numerous errors on the lower court’s part. The opinion states that the court improperly shifted the burden of proof onto the Bratton family and refused to give the jury proper instructions.

BANGOR

Sister says murder suspect asked about victim’s dealer

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The sister of one victim of a Bangor triple killing testified Tuesday that one of the defendants had confronted her about the victim’s new drug source shortly before the killings.

Katelyn Lugdon, 19, of Greenbush told the court that Nicholas Sexton was irate as he questioned her about where Lugdon’s sister was now buying drugs, WZON-TV reported. She said Sexton pushed her into a corner in a Brewer motel room and demanded to know her sister’s drug source.

Lugdon testified that the altercation happened less than two days before her sister Nicolle Ashley Lugdon, 24, of Eddington was found with two others in a burned car in a Bangor parking lot. Another victim, Daniel Thomas Borders, 26, of Hermon, was Katelyn Lugdon’s boyfriend. The other victim was Lucas Alan Tuscano, 28, of Bradford.

Prosecutors allege Sexton and co-defendant Randall Daluz were drug traffickers angry over losing a client.

Daluz, 36, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and Sexton, 33, of Warwick, Rhode Island, are charged with three counts of murder and one count of arson. The trial is set to continue Wednesday.

Katelyn Lugdon is being held on failure to appear charges at Penobscot County Jail after she allegedly skipped an interview with prosecutors about her sister’s death.

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UMBAZOOKSUS LAKE

Body found on lake thought to be missing Canadian

The Maine Warden Service said Tuesday night it has recovered a body believed to be of a missing Canadian man from a remote lake in northern Maine.

Cpl. John MacDonald said the body is believed to be that of 67-year-old Renald Poulin of St.-Come, Quebec. Poulin has been missing since November.

MacDonald said a Maine Warden Service pilot was surveying ice conditions on northern Maine Lakes late Tuesday morning when he spotted what appeared to be a body floating in Umbazooksus Lake – a remote lake located west of Baxter State Park and north of Moosehead Lake.

Game wardens used watercraft to reach the body, which had come ashore on the western shore. The state Medical Examiner’s Office will examine the body to determine if it is Poulin.

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Poulin entered the United States on Nov. 26. Family members said he had an interest in exploring rail lines that had been used by the logging industry decades ago.

His abandoned green 2002 Kia Sedona was located Nov. 30. Wardens suspended their search for Poulin on Dec. 13. A ground search for Poulin was scheduled to begin next week.

FORT FAIRFIELD

State will give VFW group $10,000 for war memorial

Maine will give $10,000 to a VFW group to build a war veterans memorial in Fort Fairfield.

Gov. Paul LePage announced Tuesday that he has designated the amount from contingency funds to support the construction of the memorial. The memorial will be located on land donated by VFW Post 6187.

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LePage said in a statement that the memorial will include 10 flagpoles and seven granite stones – one for every war, and one more representing a promise never to forget veterans. The memorial will also have space dedicated for the laying of 2,100 brick pavers with veterans’ names.

VFW member John Holschuh said in a statement the monument will recognize veterans in Aroostook County.

DOVER-FOXCROFT

Man charged with assault in fight that left him shot

A Dexter man shot during an altercation in Dover-Foxcroft last month is now facing charges in connection with the case.

Police told WABI-TV on Monday that 48-year-old Reginald Melvin was arrested last week on a charge of aggravated assault in connection with the April 22 fight that left him with a bullet wound to the stomach. He is being held at the Piscataquis County Jail on $2,500 bail and it’s unclear if he has a lawyer.

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Police say Melvin was beaten and shot during a dispute with other men with whom he had a history of conflict.

Cousins Wilbur Joe Corson and Kyle Corson are facing attempted murder and other charges in the case. Their family members say they acted in self-defense.

HALLOWELL

Emergency rule requires daily update by elvers buyers

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is taking emergency action to ensure fishermen do not exceed their catch of elvers.

The department announced Monday an emergency rule that requires buyers of elvers, or baby eels, to update their computers daily to reflect when fishermen reach their catch limits.

The state uses electronic swipe cards to track that information through sales.

Elvers make up the state’s second most valuable fishery behind lobster.

The ruling is effective Tuesday. It also clarifies that no person may possess elvers caught out of state, though elvers may be transported through the state if they are legally caught.


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