Police arrest man in robbery, assault Hampden break-in suspect nabbed in Houlton

HAMPDEN – A Brewer man was in custody Thursday afternoon, hours after he broke into a Main Road North home and brandished a handgun, demanding that two women hand over money, police said.

Wanted for the robbery and for wielding a gun during an assault of a woman in Bangor one day earlier, Jeffrey Simpson, 35, was arrested by the Maine State Police in Houlton about 4:30 p.m., some 31/2 hours after the robbery in Hampden. Authorities around the state had been issued an alert on Simpson and the teal pickup truck he had been seen driving following both incidents.

Arrested with Simpson was the passenger in the pickup truck, Thomas Baker, 22, of Bangor. Baker was wanted on a warrant for unlawful possession of a scheduled drug, reported Sgt. Scott Webber of the Hampden Police Department.

Both men had firearms in the truck, Webber said.

Simpson is expected to be charged with aggravated robbery and assault in the Hampden case, while Bangor police had sought assault and terrorizing charges. Webber said more charges could be brought against Simpson and that Baker also could face charges in connection with the robbery. Authorities believe Baker was in the pickup truck at the time of the robbery.

In Hampden, two women reported waking up after Simpson broke into their home, displaying a gun and demanding money. He struck one of the women with the gun when she wasn’t moving fast enough, she told Officer Joel Small.

The woman told Small she recognized Simpson as being an acquaintance of a friend, but that she didn’t know his name. She got Simpson’s cellphone number from the mutual friend and called Simpson, telling him she was calling the police. He responded by threatening to come back and kill the woman and her 12-year-old son, who also was at the home, police said.

Simpson also had demanded money from a Bangor woman who was walking to Second Street Park to get her children shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to police there. The woman told Officer Brad Johnston that Simpson had pulled up nearby and demanded the $20 he had lent her. When she told him she couldn’t pay him until Thursday, he displayed a silver and black handgun, still in a mesh holster.

She said Simpson didn’t point the gun at her, but that he claimed it was loaded and stated he wasn’t afraid of taking out children. He then drove off.

The 30-year-old woman said she was petrified and went to get her children and then met her husband at a market on Third Street.

The husband called Simpson on his cellphone and Simpson admitted to hitting his wife and asked the husband if he “wanted some too,” according to the police report.

Anthony Saucier of the NEWS staff contributed to this story.