Otis teenager pleads guilty to 34 charges Two-day rampage resulted in $90,000 in vandalism damage

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ELLSWORTH – Twenty burglarized houses, five stolen guns, four steak knives stabbed into a kitchen counter, three burning vehicles, two stolen trucks, and a fire extinguisher discharged inside a state park tollbooth.

To these and other crimes – all committed during two days last November in Otis, Lamoine and Mariaville – an Otis teenager admitted guilt Friday in Ellsworth District Court.

The vandalism spree resulted in damage amounting to $90,000, according to a Hancock County prosecutor.

Of the 53 charges originally filed against William Smith, 19 were dropped, Hancock County Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett said Friday.

Most of the 34 criminal charges, including two counts of arson, to which Smith pleaded guilty are felony charges, she said.

Smith, 17, also helped cause $72,000 in water damage to a Lamoine home, steal three cars, toss a television out a second-story window at a home in Otis, throw paint and lighter fluid onto a car which then was set on fire, and steal a laptop computer, a camera, beer and champagne, according to Kellett.

Smith appeared Friday before Judge Bernard Staples in District Court to plead guilty to being involved in the crime spree. The defendant’s family sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery during the hearing.

“Yes, your honor,” Smith told Staples 34 times as he admitted guilt for each count.

Smith, wearing a short-sleeve plaid shirt and bluejeans as he spoke, stood at the defense table next to his attorney, Sophie Spurr of Blue Hill.

Smith’s sentencing was delayed until 1 p.m. Aug. 8 to give the District Attorney’s Office more time to contact the extensive list of victims, more than 20 in the case, should they want to appear at the sentencing and to address the court.

Also accused in the trail of destruction are Bryan Lennon of Ellsworth and Michael Tibbetts of Lamoine, both 18. Smith is being prosecuted separately from his two alleged co-conspirators because he is a juvenile.

Lennon and Tibbetts each face similar charges in Hancock County Superior Court. The district attorney still is negotiating a plea agreement with the two, according to Kellett.

Besides breaking into 20 homes in Lamoine, Mariaville and Otis, the teenagers also are accused of destroying a truck and a car by setting them on fire. The car was torched at the Lamoine General Store after they stole it from China Hill Restaurant in Ellsworth and it became stuck in a snowbank at the store. The truck was torched on a dirt road in Otis after they stole it, rammed it into trees and it wouldn’t run anymore, police have said.

The trio reportedly caused $72,000 in damage to a house in Lamoine by ripping a sink off a wall, according to Kellett.

“Ceilings collapsed [and a] wall collapsed,” Kellett told Staples about the resulting water damage.

The teenagers also allegedly vandalized a tollbooth at Lamoine State Park and discharged a fire extinguisher inside, and broke into another Lamoine home and left four steak knives sticking point down into a kitchen counter, the prosecutor told the judge.

In each of the break-ins, the trio kicked in doors to gain entry, and, at some of the houses, they stole or damaged vehicles, guns, electronic goods, tools and alcohol, Kellett said.

Spurr said Friday outside the courtroom that her client wanted to plead guilty and that he has provided information to police about other burglaries that were not connected immediately with the vandalism spree last November.

“From the beginning, they all three have admitted their responsibility” in the crimes, Spurr said of the teenagers. Spurr said she does not represent Tibbetts and Lennon.

Kellett said after the proceeding that Smith likely would be sentenced to serve several months behind bars at a juvenile detention facility and to remain on juvenile probation until he is 21 years old.

Smith, who will turn 18 next month, has been living under close supervision with his father in Deer Isle since his arrest last fall, she said.

Kellett said she will recommend a $5,000 cap on restitution for Smith, who, because he is a juvenile, will not be required to pay any restitution for his admitted crimes after he turns 21.

She said the state also would seek restitution from both Lennon and Tibbetts who, like Smith, each insist one of the other two was the ringleader of the vandalism spree.

“They all claim to be the follower,” Kellett said.

Smith, Tibbetts and Lennon were caught last November after they approached state Trooper Alden Bustard at a gravel pit in Otis and complained to Bustard that they had been held at gunpoint by a man who turned out to be one of their alleged victims, according to police.

The Otis man had returned home and, after discovering his house had been broken into, noticed the three teenagers near his property and grew suspicious, police have said.

The man held the teenagers at gunpoint and questioned them about the burglary but let them go after he could not find any evidence they had broken into his house.

Bustard was investigating some of the burglaries included in the crime spree and connected the teenagers to the break-ins after they drove up to him in one of the stolen trucks to file the complaint, according to police.