Woman charged in shears attack

A 32-year-old Orono woman was in police custody Friday morning after her live-in boyfriend reported she had stabbed him with sewing shears and had wielded a knife against him.

Marvet Swaby faces charges of assault and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon after her arrest. Police seized the shears and knife she reportedly had used against her boyfriend, as well as another knife they found in her overalls pocket.

Police were called to the couple’s residence at 310 Timberview Drive about 8:45 a.m. when Officers Scott Welch and Scott Wilcox found themselves investigating a domestic assault. The two apparently had been arguing about a vehicle when the dispute became physical. Swaby’s boyfriend said that Swaby first hit him in the head with a phone and picked up a pair of shears and stabbed him. The shears had rounded tips and the boyfriend was wearing a leather coat, which likely prevented serious injury, reported Orono police Detective Sgt. Robert Bryant.

As it was, the man had an inch-long cut on his chest and marks on his head from being hit with the phone.

Swaby left the room, but returned shortly with a steak knife and threatened to use it on her boyfriend, according to police reports.

She fled to another apartment where Wilcox later found her, sitting on a couch with a knife in one of her pockets.

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Brewer police, armed with a warrant, say they are looking for 18-year-old Christopher Coffin, considered the “key player” in a burglary of electronics and hundreds of CDs.

Police already have charged two juveniles with the burglary and now are looking for Coffin. Brewer police Officer Peter Rancourt said that the stolen items included a VCR, stereo and a collection of 400 to 500 CDs, which included many custom-made CDs where the owner transferred music from records onto the more permanent CDs. He estimated the value of the stolen items at $6,000 and reported that some items had been recovered.

Coffin is described as being 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 140 pounds with blond hair and hazel eyes. He last was seen wearing a North Carolina baseball cap, which he used to wear frequently. He has no license and is believed to frequent the Bangor and Corinth areas, although his last known address was on Patten Street in Bangor. Anyone with information about Coffin can contact Brewer police at 989-7004

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Twenty-six-year-old Shawn R. Mask denied any knowledge of the forged unemployment check. Not only didn’t he sign it, he claimed, but he wasn’t at the bank or even in town when it reportedly was cashed.

Bangor police Officer Catherine Rumsey thought differently and had some things to back her up.

The $133 unemployment check had been cashed with the words “pay to the order” of Shawn Mask and was signed by Mask. The signature used seemed to match the signature Mask had given when he was summoned by Bangor police in September on another charge. The check also had his date of birth and Maine ID number handwritten on the front.

When Rumsey first went to speak with Mask on Dec. 28, he denied any knowledge of the incident. Rumsey pointed out that the bank had surveillance cameras, but was assured by Mask that his face would not appear on any surveillance camera tape.

On Jan. 4, Rumsey returned to the Fort Knox Avenue residence where Mask lives with his mother and presented him with several clear photos of him at the teller’s counter, taken from the surveillance cameras. Rumsey said Mask didn’t respond.

She summoned Mask, charging him with theft and forgery, and he’s scheduled to appear in Bangor District Court on Feb. 5.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli