Two Calais men indicted on robbery charges

MACHIAS – The Washington County grand jury has charged two Calais men with the Nov. 3, 2001, robbery of a Calais man with a gun they allegedly had stolen from him earlier in the day.

Lee Hass, 24, and Thomas T. Henderson III, 25, are each charged with robbery, burglary and two counts of theft. Henderson also is charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Henderson went to the victim’s home on Nov. 3, 2001, telling him that he was looking at the house next door, which he was thinking of buying, and that he needed to use the bathroom, Assistant District Attorney Carletta Bassano said Friday.

Henderson was around the house next door for most of the day while the victim left and returned home. The victim, a retired police officer, noticed that night that a handgun he had left on an appliance no longer was there, but he thought he might have moved it, the assistant district attorney said.

Bassano said the victim awoke in the middle of the night to find a man in a black hood standing at the end of the bed, pointing his gun at him and demanding cash.

The victim had taken money from the bank the previous day for a trip to Florida, Bassano said.

Hass told police that Henderson reportedly gave him the gun he had stolen while he was in the man’s house. Hass also said Henderson reportedly told him the man had a large amount of cash and said he had jimmied the back door to the home so it could be entered at a later time, the assistant district attorney said.

Police recovered the gun and two cameras that were taken from the home, Bassano said. Henderson, who was convicted of burglary in March 1997, is not permitted to have a gun.