Mom, daughter net shoplifting charges

A mother and daughter were charged with theft Thursday after it was reported they left the Filene’s store in Bangor with $365 in clothing, Christmas decorations and other items without paying for them.

The mother, identified as Cheryl Briggs, 51, of Florida, also was charged with possession of scheduled drugs after police found nearly a half-dozen different kinds of prescription medicines in her purse, including opiates and a skeletal muscle relaxant.

A store employee had first confronted Briggs’ 30-year-old daughter Misty Briggs of Unity about whether she had paid for two boxes of Godiva chocolate she had put in her bag. In what the younger Briggs would later admit to police was inappropriate, she claimed she had paid for them. The store employee reported the incident to store security personnel who began to monitor the two on closed-circuit television.

A store detective reported seeing the mother look around suspiciously and then take a large red bag from behind a counter. The two began putting items into the bag, including a sweater as well as picking up things as they went around the store, before they headed for the doors.

They were confronted as they exited the store, but told security and later police, that they had just been looking to see where they had parked their car and that they had planned to purchase the items. Among the items they are charged with taking were holiday lights, a Christmas globe, bee and ladybug slippers, two boxes of chocolates and three pairs of gloves. Bangor police Officer Ed Potter reported finding two small boxes inside Cheryl Briggs’ purse, each containing a necklace. Briggs told Potter she had forgotten they were there.

Asked about the chocolates, Misty Briggs admitted it was inappropriate and told Potter that her mother hadn’t done anything. Potter said that the older Briggs wouldn’t let police search her car and told him that she wanted a lawyer. Both were taken to Penobscot County Jail.

A Florida man was charged with drunken driving Friday after witnesses reported he ran through a red light, causing a five-vehicle accident.

No injuries were reported in the accident that occurred about 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Interstate 395, Hammond Street and Odlin Road.

Kevin Breidenstein, 40, of Winter Garden, Fla., was heading west in a pickup truck on I-395 when he ran a red light, according to a police report, and struck a pickup truck driven by Christopher Polchies, 45, of Princeton, who was turning left onto I-395 from Odlin Road. Breidenstein’s pickup truck continued and struck a van driven by Brian Bureau, 46, of Bangor, who was heading south on Odlin Road.

The impact spun the van around and it struck two vehicles heading east on Hammond Street, one a pickup truck driven by Jonathan Seamans, 20, of Millinocket and a car driven by Robert Miller, 38, of Southwest Harbor.

Bangor police Officer Steve Jordan, who investigated the accident, reported that he suspected Breidenstein was intoxicated, noting that the man was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glassy and that he appeared confused. Jordan reported he could smell alcohol coming from Breidenstein’s mouth and he performed a field sobriety test on Breidenstein, which helped confirm the officer’s suspicions.

An Intoxilyzer test registered Breidenstein’s blood-alcohol content at 0.19 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli