Bangor man guilty of sexual assault Oral sex with minor recorded in photos

BANGOR – A Penobscot County jury took 45 minutes Tuesday to find a 63-year-old Bangor man guilty of gross sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor.

Thomas J. Hart faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 10 years for his conviction on the exploitation charge. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the sexual assault charge.

An assistant manager at Rite Aid on Union Street testified that Hart brought in a roll of film to be developed on Aug. 6, 2001. Melissa Pangakis testified that Hart was a regular customer.

She said that after she developed and examined the photos, she found that several of them showed Hart performing oral sex on a male who appeared to be a minor. Following company policy, Pangakis turned the photos into police the next day.

At the trial, a 14-year-old boy testified that he and two other boys rode to Hart’s Fourth Street apartment the morning of July 13, 2001. He said that he had been there before with other boys because Hart gave them cigarettes and wine coolers.

The teenager, who was 12 at the time of the incident, said that Hart sent him and another boy into the bathroom. When they came out, the two saw Hart performing oral sex on the third boy. He testified that when he refused to take photographs of Hart and the boy, Hart said that he’d “hit somebody on the head with a hammer and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”

The boy told the jury of nine women and three men that he took three or four photos, then tossed the camera onto Hart’s bed and went outside. Neither the victim of the sexual assault or the other boy testified Tuesday.

Hart, who has long white hair and a bushy white beard, testified in his own defense, moving from the defense table to the witness stand with the aid of a walker. He told the jury that he recognized most of the pictures of relatives and neighbors that were on the roll but said that the one showing him and the boy must have come from some other roll.

He said that he did not recognize the boy who testified against him but admitted that he kept a hammer by the bed in his apartment to crack nuts and for protection.

Hart’s court-appointed attorney, Dale Thistle of Newport, said outside the courtroom that he did not believe his client was competent to stand trial. Thistle said two experts examined Hart: the state’s forensic psychologist, who reported that Hart was competent, and a private practitioner, who told the court that he was not.

Earlier this year, Justice Allen Hunter found Hart competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense. Thistle said Tuesday that he would consider appealing the verdict.

The judge ordered Hart held without bail in Penobscot County Jail and set sentencing for Friday, Nov. 22.