Woman tied to fatal accident > Police say teens given alcohol

THOMASTON – Three weeks after a stolen car crashed, killing one teen and hospitalizing three others, a Rockland woman has been charged for allegedly providing alcohol and a place to drink for the teen-agers.

Melanie L. Paton, 29, of Rockland was summoned for furnishing a place for minors to consume liquor and furnishing liquor, according to Knox County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Todd Butler. Both charges are Class D misdemeanors, he said, which are each punishable by up to 364 days in jail, one year probation and a $2,000 fine, according to a court clerk.

For the first time since the Oct. 7 accident, Butler was able to release information Thursday, which shed light on how the accident happened. Speed had been reported as a contributing factor, but the investigation had not revealed that alcohol was involved or that an adult provided the liquor. A reconstruction report by Maine State Police was still not available Thursday, so Butler could not provide an estimate of how fast the vehicle was traveling.

Butler did not say who was driving the stolen vehicle, which crashed and killed Doug Robbins, 18, of Rockland. Jessie Benner and Joshua Barbour, both 17 and from Rockland and Travis Batty, 16, of St. George were taken to different hospitals following the accident.

“It’s still under investigation,” he said, when asked who had been driving the vehicle.

On Thursday, Benner was in fair condition at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, according to ahospital spokeswoman. Fair condition means that the patient’s vital signs are stable and within normal limits, she said, and that the patient is conscious, but may be uncomfortable, and that indicators are favorable.

From the time Barbour was reported by police to have been hospitalized at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, hospital officials would not confirm if he was a patient citing patient confidentiality. On Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said there was no patient at CMMC by that name.

A Maine Medical Center spokeswoman said Thursday that Batty was not listed as a patient. Following the crash, he was in serious condition there and within a couple of days he had improved to fair condition. A release date could not be readily obtained, the spokeswoman said.

Only minutes before the 1993 Chevrolet Corsica left the roadway on Route 90, went into a ditch, became airborne and rolled over, it had been reported stolen from outside The Waterworks restaurant and pub in Rockland, according to information from Rockland police.

Sheriff’s detectives Ernest McIntosh and Donna Dennison and Sgt. Kirk Guerrette brought the charges against Paton through their investigation, Butler said, and no other charges had resulted “to this point.”

Paton is scheduled for arraignment in Sixth District Court on Feb. 13, he said.