BANGOR — A month ago in Hampden and again Thursday night in Bangor, two men entered private homes looking for money. In both cases, police say, a resident was singled out, beaten and robbed.

The alleged robbers were caught in the act Thursday when Bangor police Officer Russell Twaddell found them in the bedroom of a Court Street apartment with a badly bruised man on the floor.

The men, Eric Damon, 23, of Brewer and Sheldon Hathorne Jr., 30, of Bangor, have long criminal records and were recently released from prison.

In 3rd District Court Friday they pleaded not guilty to two charges of robbery each, and bail was set at $100,000.

Friday evening, Bangor police and members of the U.S. Attorney’s Violent Crimes Task Force arrested a third man in connection with the Court Street robbery. Brian Tomilson, 22, was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, both Class B felonies.

He remained at Penobscot County Jail late Friday evening on a combined bail of $20,000 cash.

On Thursday, Wayne Webber told police he was at his home on Court Street with his wife and two young daughters when the men knocked on his door. Since he knew Hathorne, Webber said he let them in. Webber brought them to his bedroom upstairs when they asked to speak in private.

“When the three men went upstairs, Damon immediately started to punch Webber in the face while Hathorne started to rummage around the bedroom,” according to a court affidavit written by Twaddell. “Webber stated that Hathorne and Damon said, `We want the money,’ to which Webber told them he had none.”

The two men reportedly referred to a previous incident, which may have been the robbery on Essex Street.

“There is some indication that [the Court Street robbery] might have been retaliation for the other night,” said Detective Lt. Timothy Reid of the Bangor Police Department, referring to another robbery that occurred Tuesday on Essex Street, where a gun was displayed and an undisclosed amount of cash was taken.

Reid said some of the people connected with the two incidents knew each other, but he would not elaborate.

Asked about a possible motive for the incident at the Court Street apartment, Webber explained to police that a man he knows as “J.P.” stayed with him recently and is alleged to have stolen $1,500 from a friend of Hathorne’s.

On Thursday, one of the men reportedly referred to a missing $1,500 and told Webber, “You need to know who you’re robbing before you pull it off,” court records said.

Damon and Hawthorn allegedly took $28 from a pocketbook belonging to Webber’s wife from the Court Street apartment, and left Webber suffering from a bruise to his forhead and a swollen right cheek.

Damon and Hathorne have long criminal histories including numerous robberies and violent assaults, said Assistant District Attorney Greg Campbell. In 1994, Hathorne was sentenced to nine years in prison with all but five suspended for aggravated assault. That same year, Damon was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery, burglary and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon.

For the past month Hampden Officer Scott Webber has been investigating a robbery at Taylor’s Trailer Park on Sept. 13. Resident Phillip Folster said two men knocked on his door while he was partying with four friends and “asked if Phillip was there.” Folster said, “No.”

Fifteen minutes later, the two barged into the trailer. One pointed to Folster and said, “You’re Phillip. Get up, we need to talk,” according to Officer Webber. Folster said he was brought into a back bedroom and pushed against a wall.

“Phillip stated that he did not know these gentlemen, nor did he know what they were there for, and each time he told them that, the gentleman would punch him and demand money,” court documents show.

The man allegedly told Folster if he didn’t pay, they’d kill him. Folster cried and gave the man $430, he told police. The other man, according to witnesses, was keeping watch over them as Folster was beaten.

For a month, all police had to go on were physical descriptions provided by Folster and other witnesses. The Maine State Police was eventually asked to draw a composite sketch of the suspects.

The man who punched him, Folster said, was tall, thin, with shaggy hair. He had a dent or some kind of deformity in his chest.

The other man was shorter, muscular, with a blond “Fu Manchu” mustache and a tattoo of a marijuana leaf on his right shoulder.

Officer Webber searched a regional database for convictions in which a suspect had a marijuana tattoo. Five turned up. Four were ruled out due to age and physical description.

The remaining name belonged to Sheldon Hathorne.

Meanwhile, Folster told the officer that he was hearing rumors about a man named Eric Damon who had an indented chest.

The two names came together for the first time last week when police radio traffic indicated Hathorne was involved in a fight on Hammond and Ohio streets in Bangor. A license plate check revealed he was driving a red pickup truck registered to Damon.

When Officer Webber learned the two men were arrested in the Bangor robbery he interviewed Damon early Friday morning and Damon reportedly confessed to beating Folster.