Home invasion prompts manhunt Brunswick police arrest two suspects; third man still at large

BRUNSWICK – A home invasion that was thwarted by a barking dog led to a massive manhunt in which police shut down part of Route 123 and asked residents to stay indoors Friday morning.

Two men with ties to the Bangor area were arrested but a third remained on the lam, said Brunswick police Cmdr. Richard Desjardins.

Police were searching for Lionel Cormier, 50, who was released from state prison last September after serving 16 years for robbery and the aggravated assault of a drug dealer whose ear was sliced off.

The episode unfolded in Brunswick after midnight when three men smashed a window and attempted to enter a home before fleeing, apparently after the dog inside the home started barking, Desjardins said.

An officer who arrived minutes later said at least one of the three suspects was carrying a weapon, possibly a rifle or shotgun.

Officers quickly arrested Michael Gleason, 38, of Bangor a short distance away, Desjardins said. But two others escaped.

Police brought in infrared detection equipment, teams of dogs and reinforcements from state police and the Cumberland and Sagadahoc sheriff’s departments as they searched nearby woods.

David Finch, 42, was arrested at 8:30 a.m. after local residents called police to report a suspicious hitchhiker, Desjardins said.

Both Gleason and Finch were charged with burglary, Desjardins said. Finch was well known to police in Penobscot County, where he bolted from a court proceeding in March 1999 and later used a hacksaw to try to escape again.

The home they were breaking into belonged to Thomas Dyer. Police said there was no indication the three knew Dyer.

Police described Cormier as being about 5 feet 10 inches tall and bald with a handlebar mustache. He last was seen wearing jeans, boots and a long-sleeved, blue shirt, investigators said.

Cormier, originally from Boston, was notorious for robbing a drug dealer in Corinth and cutting off the man’s ear.

He was convicted in 1986 and released in September 2002, corrections officials said.