Sex offender kept ice cream truck job hidden

PORTLAND – A convicted sex offender never disclosed his job driving an ice cream truck to his probation officer.

Apparently aware that his new job could land him back in jail, Robert Andre Bouthot never discussed his employment during weekly talks with Probation Officer Sue Weichman, a corrections spokesman said.

“At no point did he mention it,” said Michael Roach of the Department of Corrections. “He knew that was a violation of probation.”

Bouthot, 34, of Biddeford, was arrested on Easter Sunday when he was discovered selling ice cream from a Good Humor van across from Reiche Elementary School on Portland’s West End.

Bouthot served six months for a 1999 assault on a 13-year-old girl and was not allowed to be near children.

His job with A.G. Ice Cream was revealed after a South Portland police officer investigating break-ins in the ice cream truck parking lot ran a license plate check on parked cars including Bouthot’s.

The police officer discovered Bouthot was a registered sex offender and contacted his probation officer. Weichman promptly called Portland police, who located the truck on Brackett Street.

The regional manager for A.G. Ice Cream says Bouthot did not disclose his conviction when he applied for the job. He’d been driving the truck for 10 days when he was arrested.

The arrest highlights the need for employers to check the criminal histories of prospective employees, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

For a fee – $8 now and $25 beginning May 1 – any Mainer can ask the State Bureau of Identification for an individual’s history of convictions in Maine. And many people have been doing so.

Since Jan. 1, the bureau has fielded 130,000 inquiries, an increase over the same period last year.

“People are more cautious nowadays,” said Lt. Jackie Theriault, who oversees the criminal history records. “We’ve had requests from people who are dating someone and want to know their history.”