Bangor man charged with assaulting girlfriend, damaging her apartment

Bangor police arrested 34-year-old Billy Pinkham after it was reported he assaulted his girlfriend late Monday night and damaged her apartment and belongings.

Called to the Second Street apartment building shortly before midnight, several police officers could hear yelling coming from inside as well as a loud crash and the what sounded like someone being pushed against a door or thrown to the floor, according to police reports.

Familiar with Pinkham and his girlfriend and concerned that an assault had taken place already and would continue, Officer Kevin MacLaren forced his way into the apartment. On the kitchen floor in one corner were what appeared to be broken plates, and blood was splattered on the floor and kitchen table.

Pinkham’s 40-year-old girlfriend was there, her face and shirt covered in blood, her right eye cut and swelling, and her blouse torn, according to police reports.

She told Officer Edward A. Mercier that she came home from work to find her ceramic statue broken in the kitchen and confronted Pinkham about it.

Pinkham became angry, yelled at her and shoved her, the woman told Mercier. She said he then became more agitated and shoved a replica antique telephone through the sheetrock wall and then Pinkham allegedly punched her when she tried to get him to leave.

She struggled with Pinkham, who threw her to the floor.

Pinkham was charged with domestic assault and criminal mischief.

Two people were summoned on charges of theft after Old Town police reported that they deceived a store by passing off rolls of pennies as rolls of dimes.

Employees at the NSI Gulf gas station told Sgt. Scott Casey on Jan. 29 that they had traded $30 for what was thought to be six rolls of dimes. But they turned out to be two to three dollars’ worth of pennies squeezed into the rolls.

An employee recognized one of the people as 18-year-old Becky Sanborn of Orono, and the man with her only as Paul, who was wearing a uniform of a local auto parts store at the time. Paul later was identified by his employer as Paul Dow, 33, of Old Town.

Together the two had gone to several businesses trying to exchange the rolled coins, visiting the Gulf gas station even after an employee of Dairy Queen returned the rolls after discovering they were pennies.

Sanborn claimed that she was exchanging the rolls for her friend, but she didn’t know how to contact the friend, Casey said. The friend’s name and phone number listed on the rolled coins turned out to be bogus, Casey said Tuesday.

Wanted on two warrants for theft, Charles R. Richards, 30, of Bangor was detained and arrested after he left the Bangor Wal-Mart with a new computer he hadn’t paid for, according to the police.

An employee of the Springer Drive store reported seeing Richards place a $668 computer in a cart and head with a blond woman to the infant department and then for the exit. Richards walked straight out, bypassing the checkout, the employee told Officer Dan Herrick.

When two employees confronted Richards outside the store, he started to run but was restrained until Herrick arrived. The two warrants came up after a computer records check was done on Richards. Herrick charged Richards with theft by unauthorized taking.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli