Calais cemetery caper leads to two arrests

CALAIS – A 21-year-old Perry woman allegedly was struck last week with a tire iron in the city’s cemetery in an apparent drug encounter gone bad, according to an affidavit on file at Calais District Court.

Charged with robbery in the incident are Jayme M. Gibson, 18, formerly of Calais and now of Hampden and Troy N. Socoby, 18, of Indian Township. A third individual, a 17-year-old female from Grand Lake Stream, will be processed through the juvenile intake system.

Sgt. David Randall of the Calais Police Department, during a press briefing Monday, said Philomene Look, 21, of Perry had told police that the three had “lured” her to the cemetery to “take a large amount of money that she had.” He did not say how much money the woman was carrying.

On May 29, the Calais Police Department received a report that Look needed police and an ambulance. She reported she had been assaulted and was bleeding badly from a head injury. Calais police Officer David Moffitt responded. Look was taken to Calais Regional Hospital where several stitches were needed to close a cut on her head. She was treated and released.

Look told police that she had gone to the Calais cemetery with Socoby, the juvenile and another woman she did not know. That woman later was identified as Gibson. She said she believed they were going to the cemetery to smoke a marijuana cigarette.

The victim claimed that as she was talking to Socoby, Gibson allegedly “smacked her in the head really hard with a tire iron,” the affidavit said. “When the blow failed to knock her down or out, the other woman [Gibson] and the juvenile jumped in a car and drove away.”

Look asked Socoby to take her to the hospital, but instead he drove her to a residence on Pleasant Street and told her not to tell anyone what had happened. Police were called from that address.

U.S. Customs officers later stopped the juvenile and Gibson as they returned to the United States from Canada. “The car Jayme was driving was searched at the bridge but no tire iron was found,” the affidavit said.

The juvenile acknowledged to officers that she had been at the cemetery with Socoby, Gibson and an “unknown Indian girl.” Look is believed to be a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

The juvenile told police that Look and Gibson got into a fight, and Gibson allegedly “hit the other girl [Look] with a tire iron.” She said Look then allegedly hit Gibson with the tire iron and the fight ended. The juvenile said she did not know why the altercation had begun, the affidavit said.

Police arrested the juvenile. She was released to her parents.

When police questioned Gibson, she admitted she had been at the cemetery with Socoby, the juvenile and Look. “She said the unknown girl [Look] ‘shot up’ in Troy’s car. When she got out of the car she fell down,” the affidavit said.

Gibson told police that when she declined to buy drugs from Look, she left, and she denied she and Look had fought.

Gibson was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. That charge later was changed to robbery.

Later, Gibson offered a second version of the events at the cemetery. She said she had been approached by Socoby and the juvenile and was told that they were going to “roll the Indian girl with them to take her pills. They said the victim had Dilaudid” and another drug, the affidavit said.

Gibson said she met the two at the cemetery. She told police that she “hit the girl [Look] with a four-way tire iron” but claimed she had hit her “not as part of the robbery attempt but because the girl reached for her in an aggressive manner,” the affidavit said. Gibson claimed she was only defending herself. She said she had made sure the victim wasn’t seriously injured and left the cemetery.

At the request of the Calais police, Washington County sheriff’s deputies arrested Socoby. “Found in his car was a four-way tire iron which was covered with blood,” the affidavit said.

Socoby offered his version of what had happened. He said he was at the cemetery with the others. He said he and the juvenile discussed “taking pills from someone but the juvenile and [Gibson] wanted to take Ms. Look’s pills.” He told police they went to the cemetery to get the pills, but he denied they were planning to take the pills by force. “He said he took the victim to a friend’s house after she had been hit,” the affidavit said.

Although Socoby was charged with conspiracy, Assistant District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh said Socoby is expected to appear in 4th District Court in Calais today on a charge of robbery.

The assistant district attorney explained why the charge for Gibson and Socoby was changed to robbery. “It was the use of violence in an effort to commit a theft which is the quintessential definition of a robbery in the state of Maine,” he said.

Cavanaugh said that Gibson appeared in 4th District Court in Machias, and bail was set at $25,000 on one piece of real estate or $5,000 cash. She remained in the Washington County Jail on Monday night.