PORTLAND – Police have charged a former Cumberland County Jail employee with robbing the Peoples Heritage Bank at Portland Square.

Lieutenant Joseph Loughlin said Rita Radcliffe, 47, of Portland confessed Wednesday to robbing the bank on Monday.

Police recognized Radcliffe Wednesday at another Peoples Heritage Bank branch on Monument Square.

Loughlin said Radcliffe was carrying a threatening note and planned to rob the branch.

“She figured she could do it again … There is no doubt that she was planning a second operation [Wednesday],” he said.

He said Radcliffe gambled part of the money away on Tuesday at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.

Monday’s robbery took place shortly after 9 a.m. Loughlin said Radcliffe waited in line, then passed a note to a teller demanding money and threatening violence if she didn’t get it.

Radcliffe lives in Franklin Towers, a Portland Housing Authority facility for older people and people with disabilities.

Police have charged Radcliffe with robbery.

She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

In the 1980s, Radcliffe was a corrections officer at the Cumberland County Jail – as was Holmes, who arrested her.

Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion said Monday that Radcliffe called him about two months ago, asking for a job. He turned her down.

“Looks like in the long run, she’s back in the jail,” he said.