Police seek driver involved in Carmel hit-and-run

State police are looking for the driver of a blue Ford car that struck a 13-year-old boy in Carmel and kept going.

The teen-ager was standing on the side of Route 69 with a scooter about 7:45 p.m. when the car drove by him close enough so that it appeared the side mirror struck the youth, sending him to the ground, said Trooper Rod Charette.

The youth suffered bumps and bruises but no other injuries were apparent, Charette said. The boy’s name was not being released since authorities had not notified his parents. The accident occurred in front of a neighbor’s home and the youth managed to reach that home where an ambulance was called. The neighbor then took the boy to his family’s house up the street, Charette said.

Authorities want to interview the driver of the car and are asking that anyone with information about the case call 1-800-432-7381.

A 29-year-old Orono man was still being evaluated at Eastern Maine Medical Center late Friday night, more than eight hours after he was struck by a car as he was riding a bicycle in Orono.

The accident is still under investigation as Officer Jonathan Roebuck hadn’t been able to speak to Bertrand Laubsch, 29, at the scene because he was unconscious, according to police. Laubsch is believed to have suffered head injuries and broken bones, including one of his wrists, according to police.

Police said that a driver was heading south on Main Street and turned into the parking lot of Swett’s Tire & Auto Center where the car struck Laubsch.

The owner of the Veazie repair shop RPM Automotive was arrested Friday evening after police there investigated a complaint that he failed to replace a motor in a customer’s car after the customer had already paid for it.

The car owner in early March paid $1,000 upfront for a used motor to be installed in her 1985 Saab that had a blown head gasket, said Veazie police Detective Andrew Whitehouse. RPM owner Robert Morrarty told the car owner’s uncle, who paid for the work by credit card, that the replacement motor was on hand and ready to be installed.

A month passed and the uncle, a mechanic in Houlton, became suspicious of the delays after repeatedly being given excuses for why the used engine hadn’t been installed, the detective said. On April 12, Morrarty told the uncle that the car was ready to be picked up.

The uncle had the Saab towed to his automotive mechanics shop in Houlton the next day where the numbers on the engine and in the owner’s manual were compared. The comparison allegedly revealed that the engine was the same one that came with the car in 1985, Whitehouse said.

During an interview with Whitehouse about 6:30 p.m. Friday, Morrarty confessed to not replacing the engine. Whitehouse arrested Morrarty, charging him with theft by deception. At the time of his arrest, Morrarty was out on bail from a previous charge and was subsequently charged with violation of bail conditions.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli