Offender calls victim from pay phone at prison

BELFAST – When people are let out of jail, they tend to get off the property in a hurry.

Not John Bouchard.

Bouchard, 32, of Fall River, Mass., was arrested Tuesday at the Waldo County Jail, just moments after being freed on bail for a domestic assault charge.

The conditions of Bouchard’s bail required that he have no contact with the alleged victim.

Bouchard apparently forgot the court’s instructions because he placed a call to the woman from the jail’s pay phone.

Waldo County Chief Deputy Sheriff John Ford said Bouchard was on his way out the jail’s front door Tuesday when he stopped to use the pay phone to call the woman. When she answered, he asked her to pick him up. The woman immediately called the Sheriff’s Department.

“It was the quickest arrest we’ve ever made,” Ford said Wednesday. “He was about 30 seconds out the door when [Deputy] Matt Curtis arrested him. He never made it to the end of the driveway.”

Bouchard was arrested and charged with domestic assault after an incident at the woman’s home Monday night. He was released on personal recognizance bail when he appeared in Belfast District Court on Tuesday.

After calling the woman from the jail at 2:15 that afternoon, Bouchard was arrested in the parking lot and booked on a charge of violating conditions of release. He also is being held on outstanding warrants from Massachusetts for parole violation and other charges.