November 06, 2024
Column

2 men arrested in civic center burglary

Two men have been charged in connection with a break-in at the Bangor Civic Center and Auditorium this week.

Arrested in connection with the burglary on Tuesday were Sean Waltz, 19, and Michael Cole, 20, both transients.

A police official said that while Waltz entered the building, Cole served as lookout and that the men stayed in contact with two-way radios. Waltz likely entered through a door that wasn’t locked properly, police said.

Shortly before midnight, Bangor police Sgt. Larry Weber noticed that a side door by the lower Buck Street entrance was ajar and that a computer monitor was standing just outside the door. Police officers surrounded the building and began searching in and around it, including with a police dog.

Just inside the building police found a speaker, while Officer Allen Hayden and K-9 Alto located Waltz hiding inside the building.

Police officers noticed Cole riding his bike in the area and interviewed him. Among other things, they discovered a two-way radio on him that was tuned to the same frequency as the one they found on Waltz.

Both men were charged with possession of burglar’s tools, while Waltz was charged with burglary, theft and trafficking in dangerous knives. Cole also was charged with conspiracy to commit burglary.

It was the report of loud people that drew Old Town police to Hayes Street late Thursday night, but it was the two small marijuana plants in a window that caught their attention.

As police moved toward 20 Hayes St., a group of people who had congregated on a porch moved back inside and the officers went to the door to speak to the occupants.

While speaking to resident Jesse Haskell, 20, Officer Bobbie Pelletier noticed in a window, inches away, a blue cup with two 5- to 6-inch plants growing in them. He recognized them as marijuana and pointed them out to Haskell, then asked the man to bring them out.

With a grin on his face, Haskell returned with the plants, Pelletier reported, and denied ownership of them, claiming that they belonged to his roommate and that probably they were marijuana plants, an experiment.

Pelletier took a leaf, rolled it in his fingers and then took a whiff, his nose confirming what his eyes and experience had told him. It was marijuana.

Haskell refused to tell police who his roommate was and as his name was on the lease, Pelletier summoned him on a charge of cultivating marijuana. The group was also warned about the noise.

James E. York, 43, of Bangor was charged with drunken driving after he was stopped for speeding on Finson Road in Bangor late Thursday night.

Officer Edward A. Mercier reported that while parked near the cemetery running radar, he clocked York’s pickup truck doing 50 mph in a 25-mph zone and pulled the truck over by a dirt road. York got out of the truck unsteadily and started to walk down the road before turning around and heading back toward the cruiser, according to Mercier.

York admitted that his license was suspended but denied drinking, although Mercier said he could detect the odor of alcohol on his breath. York didn’t complete field sobriety tests as instructed and was arrested on charges of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants and operating a motor vehicle after suspension, habitual offender status.

His blood-alcohol content registered 0.15 percent on the Intoxilyzer test, or nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli


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