Calais man accused of witness tampering

MACHIAS – A former Calais School Committee member and local minister who is charged with tampering with a witness in connection with last year’s vandalism of Calais High School was arraigned Wednesday in 4th District Court.

The Rev. Peter Leon did not enter a plea because district courts do not hear pleas in felony cases.

Judge Bernard Staples scheduled a probable cause hearing on the case for July 18.

Staples released Leon on personal recognizance bail on the condition that Leon have no contact with Justin McVay, 19, of St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

McVay and Michael Poole, a 17-year-old Calais boy, are both incarcerated on burglary, criminal mischief and theft charges in connection with the July 2000 vandalism spree that caused $30,000 worth of damage to the high school.

McVay was sentenced several months before Poole and Leon, who was Poole’s tutor at the high school, visited McVay at the Washington County jail.

He allegedly tried to influence McVay’s testimony during that conversation.

McVay, who was also charged with another Calais burglary, was sentenced in December 2000 to 42 months in prison with all but eight months suspended. He remains in the Washington County jail.

Poole was sentenced in March to the Maine Youth Center until his 21st birthday.