Man charged in Brewer fight Police find woman draped in noodles

A report of two men fighting over a parking spot Wednesday night brought Brewer police to the Village Green Motel, but it was a woman in distress that caught their attention.

The woman came out from one of the rooms, dressed in a bathrobe and covered in noodles. She said that boyfriend Bruce Mann, 43, had struck her, as well as dumped the noodles on her, according to police. Mann told police that he had only backhanded his girlfriend during an argument.

Brewer police Cpl. Fred Luce and Officer Peter Rancourt were already at the Wilson Street motel for a report of two men fighting over a parking spot when Mann’s girlfriend approached them seeking their help.

The woman said she and boyfriend Mann were arguing when he dumped the noodles all over her face and hair and then began hitting her, Luce reported. The police arrested Mann and took him to Penobscot County Jail.

Luce reported that the two men who had a dispute over who would have the parking spot in front of a room had separated by the time they had arrived.

Too old to know where to buy marijuana, a 50-year-old man told police that he resorted to growing his own plants to feed his winter-time pot use.

The confession came after Old Town police confronted Thomas Harris about the 20 marijuana plants they discovered in his Bennoch Road home while investigating an alarm that had gone off inside the home early Monday afternoon.

The investigating officers found that the back door to the trailer home was unlocked but secured by a chain inside, reported Old Town police Officer Seth Bear. Harris wasn’t home, but his younger brother arrived and let police inside the home, telling them later that had he known about his brother’s stash, he wouldn’t have let them in, according to a police report.

Officers Seth Burns and Brent Fournier discovered a light still on inside the master bedroom closet. Inside were blue and yellow cups with soil and small marijuana plants in them, Bear reported. Also in the closet was a plastic jug with a turkey baster and a bag of potting soil.

Thomas met with police later Monday, where Harris explained that the plants were for his use only in the winter and that his brother knew nothing about them. He told Bear that he was experimenting for the first time with growing his own as he no longer knew where to buy it, according to the police report. He said he had smoked marijuana a lot when he was younger.

Harris told police that he had bought the seeds in November, but declined to say who his supplier was, Bear reported. Bear charged Harris with cultivation of marijuana and issued a civil summons of possession of drug paraphernalia.

An employee of Dunkin’ Donuts in Old Town faces a theft charge after police reported he was caught dipping into the till.

The shop’s manager contacted police Tuesday to report that for a third day, registers had come up short. This last time, they had had a surprise cash-out of the registers as the same two people were working Tuesday night as had the previous two nights.

The manager reported that one of the employees, Josiah Winchenbach, 20, of Brewer was acting suspicious Tuesday night, making several visits to the bathroom. Confronted about the thefts and told that it would be a good time to tell the truth, Winchenbach confessed, saying “Yeah, it was me,” reported Old Town police Sgt. Michael Hashey.

Winchenbach estimated that he took $220 over three nights, although the manager reported that $271.44 was missing, according to the police report.

Police recovered $85 from the center console of Winchenbach’s truck as well as a wet $20 bill that Winchenbach had tried unsuccessfully to flush down the toilet. When it wouldn’t go, he threw it away in a trash can in the lobby. A customer in the bathroom also found $10, which apparently had fallen out of Winchenbach’s shoe, where he had secured the stolen money. Winchenbach also admitted to spending $95 on a new fuel pump for his truck.

Hashey charged Winchenbach with theft by unauthorized taking or transfer.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli