3 arrested on theft, drug charges at Brewer Wal-Mart

Brewer police arrested three men on theft and drug charges Monday afternoon at Wal-Mart.

Sgt. Jason Moffitt said that at about noon he went to the store after a report of a shoplifter in custody of store security.

Moffitt said he arrested Joshua Cass, 18, of Bangor after security officials said they saw Cass pocketing merchandise. Moffitt said Cass had jewelry and an empty container for a piece of computer equipment.

Store security told Moffitt that two men and a woman had accompanied Cass, and might still be in the store. It was suspected, Moffitt said, that Cass had handed off some stolen items to his friends.

As Moffitt was leaving the store, security personnel called again saying they had detained the two men seen with Cass. Moffitt went back to the store, accompanied by Officer Paul Gauvin.

With the men’s consent, the officers searched Christopher Warchol, 24, and Daniel Hankins, 22, both of Bangor.

Moffitt said Warchol had some prescription antidepressant pills loose in his pocket and was arrested and charged with possession of Schedule Z drugs. He also was put on hold for violating his probation.

Hankins had hypodermic needles, one of which was one-third full of liquid, Moffitt said. The liquid tested positive as an amphetamine. Hankins was arrested and charged with possession of Schedule W drugs.

No stolen merchandise was found in the men’s possession.

Moffitt said both men had “good-sized” knives, and Warchol also had a device attached to his wristband that he said was a homemade electric stun gun.

Weapons charges may be filed pending investigation.

Bangor police charged a teenager with theft Monday after he allegedly stole clothing from J.C. Penney.

Officer Larry Morrill reported that at about noon he went to the Bangor Mall store, where he met with store security. The security officer had a teenage boy in custody, who allegedly had been seen taking a pair of pants and a T-shirt out of the store in a bag without paying for them. The clothes were valued at $48.

The boy was cooperative, Morrill said, and was taken to the station where he was released into his mother’s custody.

Bangor police summoned a teenager Monday afternoon after she allegedly wore clothing out of J.C. Penney without paying.

Officer Larry Morrill said a store security officer watched the girl on video as she grabbed five shirts without looking at the price tags, then grabbed two pairs of pants and a denim skirt.

The security officer said the girl took the clothes into the fitting room and came out empty-handed. When the officer checked the room, he told Morrill, only two shirts were there. He then ran out of the store into the Mall and stopped the girl.

In the girl’s purse were khaki pants, and she was wearing two of the shirts, the man told Morrill.

When Morrill asked the girl if he could contact her parents, she told him her mother was in Arizona, and her father, with whom she lived, had no phone. Morrill said he contacted the girl’s grandmother, who made arrangements to pick her up.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball