November 09, 2024
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Man who supplied alcohol is sentenced Bangor crash killed teen in April 2002

BANGOR – The Eddington man who pleaded guilty to giving alcohol to teenagers later involved in a fatal car crash was sentenced Tuesday in Penobscot County Superior Court to six months in jail with all but 28 days suspended.

Ryan Cormier, 22, also was sentenced to one year of probation by Justice Jeffrey Hjelm for supplying alcohol to a group of Brewer High School students who attended a party at Cormier’s house during April school vacation last year.

Sixteen-year-old Mark Reynolds Jr. of Eddington died in an accident at the intersection of Norway Road and Webster Avenue in Bangor shortly after he, along with four others, left the party driving a friend’s pickup.

Reynolds had his learner’s permit but not his driver’s license.

Police noticed the truck just after midnight Saturday, April 13, 2002, behind J.R. Redemption on South Main Street in Brewer. Reynolds drove off as a Brewer police officer pulled up behind the truck, police said.

Reynolds drove west on Interstate 395, exiting off Route 202 toward Hampden. At times, his speed reached 80 mph, Brewer police said. Reynolds turned around to elude a spike mat at Coldbrook Road and headed toward Bangor on Interstate 95.

He exited I-95 at Hammond Street and turned down Norway Road. Police did not pursue him, but stopped to discuss how to proceed.

Reynolds apparently mistook a driveway directly across from where Norway Road intersects with Webster Avenue for a continuation of the street. The truck traveled across the lawn and crashed into a large pine tree on the property.

Three of the boys riding in the pickup with Reynolds received minor injuries. A fourth boy was injured more seriously and hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor after the accident. He was expected to recover.

In a separate matter, Hjelm sentenced Antonio F. Pinto, 20, of Bangor to eight years in prison with all but two suspended and four years probation for the Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002, armed robbery of Lucky’s Market on Center Street in Bangor.

Pinto pleaded guilty to armed robbery shortly before being sentenced.

Prosecutors dropped charges against Pinto for his alleged involvement in the Friday, Sept. 20, armed robbery of the Eastside convenience store. Originally, Pinto and Roger Tenney, 21, of Bangor, both were charged with that robbery.

Investigators now believe Pinto was not involved in the robbery of the Eastside store, according to Roberts. Tenney is awaiting trial.


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