22-year-old sentenced in boating accident

DOVER-FOXCROFT – A 22-year-old Greenville man who furnished liquor to a group of young people who later were injured in a boating accident on Moosehead Lake in June pleaded guilty Monday to procuring liquor for a minor.

Christopher Lavigne was sentenced in 13th District Court on Monday to 15 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Lavigne was one of four people charged in connection with the accident that left six people injured. Also charged was Patricia Weingart, 18, of Greenville for being a minor transporting liquor. She was fined $200. Zack Brewster, no age provided, who is now out of state, was charged with furnishing liquor to a minor, a Class D misdemeanor, and a juvenile, whose name is not being released, is facing a charge of providing a place for minors to consume alcohol.

Greenville Police Chief Duane Alexander called the sentences “fair and reasonable” considering the severity of the crimes. He said charges against others are pending.

According to the investigation, which is continuing, all but Lavigne were among six other young people from the Greenville area who had spent the day consuming alcohol while drifting for several hours in two boats on Moosehead Lake. One of the boats, an 18-foot open-bow boat carrying six young people – Laura Harris, 19, Kristen Gauvin, 22, Nathan Woodbury, 18, Taylor Stanton, 16, Colin Arey II, 15, all of Greenville, and Danny Melrose, 17, of Rockwood – crashed at 2:40 a.m. June 25 into a fog-shrouded rock wall on an unnamed island in Moosehead Lake.

Weingart and Brewster, who were traveling behind the six young people in another boat, rescued the victims of the crash. The pair took the injured young people to shore where they were met by medical responders. All were taken to hospitals in Greenville and Bangor and since have been discharged.