Man guilty of firing at would-be pumpkin thieves

ELLSWORTH – A Lamoine tow-truck driver accused of endangering the lives of three boys by repeatedly discharging a rifle to scare the would-be pumpkin thieves off his property agreed Friday to plead guilty to a charge of reckless conduct, according to the local district attorney.

Clifton Bradford, 50, originally also was charged in Hancock County Superior Court with criminal threatening and threatening display in connection with the pumpkin incident, Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich said Friday. Those charges were dropped as part of Friday’s agreement, he said.

Bradford was tried on all three charges last month, but the proceeding ended in a mistrial after a jury could not agree on a verdict.

As part of the plea agreement, Bradford also agreed to forfeit to the state the rifle he used to scare off the boys his property, Povich said.

Bradford was convicted earlier this week of attempted theft for threatening last October to tow a woman’s car from her driveway if she did not pay an outstanding towing bill. Povich said he struck the plea agreement after meeting Friday with Bradford to discuss his attempted-theft conviction.

“It just made sense,” Povich said of the plea agreement.

Bradford was represented by Ellsworth attorney Dan Pileggi in the pumpkin case. Pileggi could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment.

Bradford represented himself in the attempted-theft case.

Sentencing in both cases will be late next week, according to Povich.

The Lamoine man was accused of firing a rifle several times on Oct. 27, 2001, after discovering three teenage boys on his Route 204 property trying to steal pumpkins. Two of the boys ran off when Bradford yelled at them and discharged the weapon, but a third boy in a truck was detained after Bradford ran into the road to stop the vehicle from driving off.

In the attempted-theft case, Bradford was accused of threatening to take a woman’s $18,000 car if she did not pay a $67 towing bill. Bradford testified he backed his wrecker up to the woman’s car – which was not the vehicle involved with the outstanding bill – as it was parked in her driveway and pretended he was going to take it to “rattle her cage.”

Bradford said he had knocked on the door of the woman’s house to talk to her about the bill, but she would not come out. He denied threatening to take the car or intending to take the car if the bill was not paid.

Bradford on Monday started serving an unrelated four-day sentence for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, and was not expected to be released from jail until Friday evening.