Old Town teens face arson charges

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Two Old Town High School teens face charges of arson after allegedly setting a fire behind the Rite Aid building on South Main Street in Old Town just before midnight Saturday, officials said.

The two teens, believed to be 15 to 16 years old, lined up wooden pallets and cardboard behind the rear entrance to the store and set it on fire, Old Town police Sgt. Scott Casey said.

Witnesses pulled the flammable materials away from the brick building, Old Town Assistant Fire Chief James Lavoie said. Old Town police Officer Bobbie Pelletier put out the fire with an extinguisher from his car before the fire department arrived.

The juveniles were released into the custody of their parents and will appear in 3rd District Court in Bangor on Nov. 19.

The cost of repairing a soccer field at Penobscot Valley High School in Howland is estimated at more than $300 after vandals drove over the field early Saturday morning, Deputy Quinton Goodall of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department said. With rains the previous night, the ground was particularly soft and easier to damage with whatever vehicle was used.

The damage was noticed when members of the boys and girls soccer teams began arriving at the field for games against Lee Academy, the deputy said. The games were played as scheduled.

More than $200 worth of candy was stolen when three ice cream trucks belonging to AG Ice Cream were broken into while the vehicles were parked at 72 Target Industrial Circle on Friday night, Bangor police Officer Erik Tall said. The thief broke open one window, causing $100 damage, and stole large amounts of candy. Police had no leads as of Sunday night.

Police summoned one person for disorderly conduct after a brawl in front of Benjamin’s on Franklin Street in Bangor Saturday morning, officials said.

Bangor police Officer Shawn Green drove near the bar in time to witness one man strike another man before four more men began punching more people, Green said. Green got out of his cruiser and began yelling for the group to stop fighting, according to police reports.

One man ran out of the center of the fight and several others began chasing him away from the area, Green said. The officer was able to grab a male in another group who was attacking another male, and broke up the two in time to see the group of people fighting grow and become more aggressive.

The officer pulled out his chemical spray and the group broke up with people running in numerous directions, Green said. One man, however, was still attacking another man who was curled up on the ground and Green sprayed the attacker with Mace, he reported. The man then ran away from the officer and when Green went to check on the victim, he also had run off.

Detective Clifford Worcester found the man who had been sprayed, later identified as Logan Wade, 23, of Brewer, inside a taxicab bleeding from his mouth and nose and visibly affected by the Mace, Green said. Logan was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and was issued a summons to appear in 3rd District Court in Bangor on Nov. 4 for disorderly conduct.

A Gardiner man has been charged with theft or misuse of a credit card after he allegedly stole $800 from a friend’s bank account while at her house to help her while she was sick, Brewer police said.

Richard Blake, 23, had gone to the Brewer woman’s home on Oct. 1 and stayed with her through Oct. 2 as she recuperated from an illness. But on Oct. 3, the woman noticed that she was missing her ATM card and $100 from her account, Brewer police Sgt. Chris Martin said. After additional withdrawals of $300 and $400, the woman allegedly contacted Blake who admitted to stealing the money and told her that it was for him to leave the area and get away from his probation.

Blake later went to the victim’s home where he was arrested on a probation hold and charged with the ATM-related crime, Martin said. Blake will appear in 3rd District Court in Bangor today.

The victim believed that Blake had obtained her personal identification number for the ATM card by watching her when she used the card once in front of him, Martin said.

Bangor police were still looking for a black Toyota pickup truck involved in a hit and run Sunday.

John Hyland, 57, of Bangor had been driving his 1999 Toyota sedan south on Essex Street in Bangor just after 7:30 a.m. Saturday when a black pickup crossed the centerline traveling northbound in front of 1164 Essex St. and then turned right, causing the rear of the truck to stick out into oncoming traffic, Bangor police Officer Wade Betters said. Hyland attempted to swerve around the truck, but struck the rear end.

Hyland then overcorrected his steering and drove across the road and struck a utility pole, Betters said. The pickup then drove off. Hyland suffered minor injuries, with his vehicle incurring more than $5,000 in damage.

A Bangor man was arrested and charged with assault and criminal threatening after he allegedly returned home from a day at a local bar, grabbed his girlfriend by the hair, punched her in the face and shoved her around just before 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said.

Ralph “Leo” Soctomah, 50, broke a door window and left the couple’s Seventh Street home, Bangor police Detective Timothy Reid said. The woman’s sister told police she saw the attacks and heard Soctomah threaten to kill his girlfriend. Police noted that the left side of the woman’s jaw was swollen and her lip was bleeding.

Police later found Soctomah and took him to Penobscot County Jail in Bangor. He will appear in 3rd District Court in Bangor today.

Bangor police had no leads as of Sunday as to who broke into a Bangor man’s pickup truck and stole his green waste management jacket Friday night, Bangor police Officer Shawn Green said. The truck was parked on Second Street when someone pried open the rear window and crawled into the truck to steal the green jacket with gray reflective stripes. The jacket is valued at $250.

Police are unsure why someone broke into a Hamilton, Mass., man’s car and took nothing.

Someone broke out the rear window of a 1999 Oldsmobile Bravado while the vehicle was parked at the Holiday Inn on the Odlin Road, then rummaged through boxes and tool containers, but took nothing sometime early Saturday morning, Bangor police Officer Erik Tall said. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $500.

A Bangor woman went to pick up her child at day care in Bangor Wednesday afternoon and noticed the car she had left running in the driveway was leaving without her. A strange man was behind the wheel.

Running out to the car that was backing down the driveway, the woman confronted the driver on one side of the car, only to have him look up and smile at her, the woman later told police. She ran around to the driver’s side door and the man behind the wheel, identified as Dylan T. Saunders, 30, stopped the car, partway into French Street where he claimed that he had mistakenly taken the car thinking it belonged to his friend Jim. Asked where the friend lived, Saunders responded, “Oh, in the river.”

Officer Edward A. Mercier investigated the incident, but got little more out of Saunders, who still insisted he thought the 2000 Hyundai Accent belonged to his friend Jim. He was borrowing the car from a friend he claimed he had met two weeks earlier and hadn’t seen since. Saunders also couldn’t remember his friend’s last name.

Another woman told police she had seen Saunders walking up and down the street looking into cars throughout the afternoon. Saunders was charged with theft.

A man wanted in connection with an assault on his wife led Bangor police on a foot chase and prompted two searches for him late Thursday night before he was taken into custody.

Philip Miller, 27, was charged with domestic assault after his wife told Officer Michael Jewett that during an argument he grabbed her left biceps, leaving red marks the officer could see. She said Miller pushed her onto the bed and knocked the phone from her hands when she tried to call the police.

Miller fled his 65 Curve St. residence on foot, although police learned he had gone to a friend’s home on Garland Street, where others were trying to delay him until police arrive. Once again he fled before police arrived, heading down Forest Avenue. Jewett saw Miller running down Forest Avenue, but a 25-minute search failed to turn him up.

A short time later, police were told Miller was in the area of Essex and Cumberland streets. Police officers searched the area and Officer Dan Herrick chased and caught Miller on Essex Street near Garland Street.

Miller claimed his wife had become physical and that he had only grabbed her wrists to calm her down. Jewett noted that Miller’s right eye was red and swollen and that he had what appeared to be a bite mark on his right biceps, which Miller claimed came from his wife. As for why he ran, Miller said he became scared as he had been arrested previously for assaulting his wife.

– Compiled by NEWS reporters Derek Breton and Doug Kesseli