35-mile chase ends in arrest of Old Town man

OLD TOWN – An Old Town man who allegedly broke into Leonard Middle School over the weekend and then led police on a car chase through three towns for 35 miles was released on unsecured bail Monday afternoon.

William Sale, 21, was arrested just after 6 a.m. Sunday, after leading police from Old Town, Orono, Indian Island and the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department on a car chase for more than two hours through Old Town, Orono and Milford.

Sale was charged with felony counts of aggravated criminal mischief, aggravated criminal burglary, attempting to elude and officer and burglary of a motor vehicle, Old Town police Sgt. Scott Casey said. Sale also was charged with driving to endanger, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, exceeding the speed limit by more than 30 mph, and driving to endanger.

Jacob Hoxie, 22, who is also accused of breaking into the middle school, was charged by Old Town police with felony counts of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated criminal burglary, Casey said.

Sale and Hoxie had been drinking just before 3 a.m. Sunday at Sale’s Lincoln Street home when the two began fighting over a comment made about a woman, Old Town police Officer Tom Adams said. The two took the fight outside and police were called as they broke out the windows and knocked in the roofs of two Chevrolet Cavaliers parked in front of the home. Damage to the vehicles was estimated at $3,000.

When police arrived, the two men ran 100 yards into the woods behind the home to the Leonard Middle School. There they used a barrel to climb onto a shed and then climbed metal piping on the side of the school to the top of the first floor where they went through a second-floor window that may have been left unlocked, Old Town police Officer Brent Fournier said. Inside the building, the pair, bleeding profusely from punching the cars, bled onto the second-floor lockers and hall.

The two broke through a door window to the computer room and dumped a beer into a computer printer but did no other damage, Fournier said. They then emptied a fire extinguisher into the hall before pulling a fire alarm.

They returned to the Lincoln Street home where police were still waiting, but fled when told to stop, Adams said. Hoxie was caught hiding in the woods, but Sale got away.

After receiving a report of a stolen Dodge Dakota pickup from a Harding Street home, police found Sale driving the truck on Brunswick Street, Casey said. Police chased Sale for more than 35 miles through more than 15 streets and roads, through three towns and past two spike mats with speeds reaching as high as 70 mph and as low as 5 mph.

Sale eventually stopped the truck at his Lincoln Street home and surrendered to police, Casey said.

It was 8 a.m. when Sale took an Intoxilizer test and was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent, Casey said. While the legal limit for adults in Maine is 0.08 percent, police believe that he was over the legal limit while they chased him and charged him with OUI.

On Monday, Hoxie was given a bail hearing for the charge of burglary, and Sale was charged with burglary and eluding an officer, Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Jim Aucoin said. Additional charges are pending from the District Attorney’s Office. Both men were released on $500 unsecured bail and will appear in 3rd District Court in Bangor on Nov. 13 for a probable cause hearing.