2 Charleston escapees surrender in Freeport > Searchers hope pair will lead them to third prisoner

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One week after their escape, two of the three men who fled from the minimum-security Charleston Correctional Facility turned themselves in to authorities in Freeport on Monday.

In Levant, meanwhile, where investigators have been scouring the woods for 20-year-old Damien Mantha, Mantha’s mother and law enforcement officials traded accusations about alleged police improprieties.

Police also revealed for the first time that they spotted Mantha in Levant Friday night, but lost him when he retreated into the woods near Route 222.

Law enforcement officials are hopeful that the pair who surrendered Monday, now in the Maine Correctional Institution in Warren, the maximum-security prison known as the Supermax, will lead them to Mantha.

Acting Charleston Director Eric Hansen said it was “truly key” to determine when Robert Pazant and Mark Badger separated from Mantha and if they knew where he was headed at the time.

“We’re squeezing them on that right now,” he said.

Pazant, 31, of Portland spoke directly with the commissioner of the Department of Corrections before he and Badger turned themselves in at an unknown location in Freeport on Monday morning.

Officials knew that Pazant had friends and family in the Portland area, and circulated a Charleston phone number in case either man contacted them.

Early Monday, Pazant called the facility and said he wanted to speak with DOC Commissioner Martin Magnusson, who works in Augusta.

“They were concerned about who they would be turning themselves in to and where they would be going,” Magnusson said. The commisisioner said he knew them both and that Pazant had “been in the system for a while.”

“I told them if you get arrested rather than turn yourselves in, you’re going to get more time,” Magnusson said. “I’ll go to court myself if I have to.”

In the end, the two surrendered without incident. They face up to five years in prison for escape and could face additional penalties for their role in stealing a pickup truck in Atkinson. The truck, and a rifle that was inside, were recovered Monday.

Authorities said the pair would not receive special treatment, but that their cooperation would be considered during their sentencing hearings.

When the two left Charleston last Monday, Pazant was being held for robbery and burglary. Badger, 24, of Newburgh was in prison for charges including burglary and theft.

As Pazant and Badger were being transferred to the Supermax on Monday, Mantha’s mother invited reporters to her trailer home on Lake Road in Levant to complain about what she described as heavy-handed conduct on the part of police.

Coincidentally, the bulk of her allegations center on an incident that occurred immediately after police sighted Mantha last Friday.

Don Piper, owner of the Corner Country Store, said an employee spotted Mantha in the parking lot late Friday. A K-9 unit followed his scent to a house near the store, which officials had been using as a temporary command post.

That’s when officers spotted Mantha hitchhiking at the foot of a hill near Route 222 and Stetson Road, according to Col. James O’Farrell, chief of security for the Maine prison system, who has been leading searches in the area.

Despite more than 100 tips from residents in the area, Friday was the only time Mantha was spotted by law enforcement authorities.

Bloohounds chased Mantha as he retreated into the woods, but stopped when one of the dogs was injured on a barbed wire fence. Police immediately set up a roadblock at the command post and began questioning drivers.

It was at that moment that Mantha’s mother, Storme Robichaud, and her boyfriend, John Gagnon, pulled into the store to buy cigarettes. Upset at what they called “police harassment,” the two pulled out when they saw O’Farrell coming toward them.

“They were the second vehicle through the barrier,” O’Farrell said. “If you had a visual sighting, and you see the suspect’s mother coming across the barrier, it would be irresponsible not to stop the car.”

Here, stories diverge. Gagnon said that O’Farrell yelled at them to come out of the truck, banging a flashlight against the front door and a fender when they did not immediately leave the vehicle.

O’Farrell, a 20-year DOC veteran, claims Gagnon got out of the truck and became threatening and abusive.

“Things got pretty heated for the both of us,” he said. “He raised his fists to me. He approached me. I told him five times to get back.”

Charleston Director Hansen said that O’Farrell threatened to use his baton, but did not strike Gagnon.

During the meeting with reporters, Robichaud expressed irritation with the police, at the same time issuing an impassioned plea for her son to surrender.

“If my son is out there, please turn yourself in,” she said. “Wherever he is, I want him to know that I love him no matter what. I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

Her fears stem from tragic personal experience. Mantha’s stepfather came to a violent end during a bitter Robichaud family feud in 1989 that led to two arsons, two suicides and the convictions of three brothers.

Before his escape, Mantha, 20, was in prison for robbery. His mother believed he was turning his life around at Charleston. He received his high school diploma in prison and was taking welding classes.

But with two years left on his sentence, Mantha appeared at their Lake Road home last Monday. Within 10 minutes, Robichaud learned the necessary details: escape, two men in the driveway in a stolen truck, a rifle in the front seat.

“We tried to talk him into turning himself in,” she said. “The other guys were pressuring him. They thought he was inside making phone calls. He left in a hurry.”

Bangor lawyer Terrence Harrigan, who represented Mantha as a juvenile, confirmed that Robichaud called him Tuesday morning and said she implored her son to turn himself in.

Robichaud and Gagnon said they haven’t seen or heard from Mantha since then. Nonetheless, they said they have been subject to repeated interrogations and searches by the police.

“I know they’re desperate, I know they’re mad, and I know they’re frustrated,” she said. “But I have no more information.”

Hansen defended the professionalism of his officers, saying that out of 150 searches they’ve performed on various vehicles and residences, they received only one complaint.

Furthermore, daily briefings at Charleston stress the importance of maintaining a positive image for the DOC and being respectful to residents, the director said.

“We know that Mantha tried to get help from the mother, even if she was not forthcoming with that help,” Hansen said. “So we’ve got to check on that. But it isn’t harassment.”

Authorities specifically denied the most explosive of Robichaud’s allegations — that Col. O’Farrell and others threatened to shoot Mantha if they caught him fleeing.

O’Farrell acknowledged that there has been a sense of danger to the manhunt. Until Monday, they did not know whether Mantha had the rifle that was stolen in Atkinson or not. But he denied threatening Robichaud’s son.

“Absolutely not,” O’Farrell said. “We never made that statement. None of us want to hurt this kid.”