Beehive vandal gets 7 days on probation count

ELLSWORTH – A Surry man who agreed to a deal that kept him out of jail when he pleaded guilty last year to ramming his truck into several thousand dollars’ worth of beehives was ordered Thursday by a judge to serve seven days behind bars for violating his probation.

Craig Golden, 19, already served the time, however, when he was arrested for the probation violation in June, according to Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett.

The order issued Thursday by Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead made final the agreement between the prosecutor and Golden’s attorney, Steve Juskewitch of Ellsworth.

Golden was on probation for having rammed his truck into the hives, which were being used to pollinate blueberries at Merrill Blueberry Farms in Hancock, in May 2002 after he was stung by a bee.

Golden was 17 when the incident took place, but as part of an agreement worked out last year between Juskewitch and the District Attorney’s Office, he pleaded guilty as an adult to a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge in exchange for a 364-day suspended sentence.

Last year, Golden served 30 days in the Hancock County Jail for biting the hand of an Ellsworth police officer and another 60 days for driving his Chevrolet truck – the same used to smash the beehives – into another vehicle after he lost control of his vehicle on Route 172 in Surry.

Kellett said Thursday that Golden violated his probation a year ago by consuming alcohol. As a result of that violation, Golden agreed to undergo substance-abuse treatment, not to use any drug for which he did not have a prescription, and to use only one doctor and one pharmacy, she said.

The most recent probation violation came to light when Golden tested positive for opiate use, according to the prosecutor. Also, Golden had used more than one pharmacy and doctor without telling his probation officer, she said.

“It was a technical violation,” she said.

Juskewitch said Thursday that his client was just following his treatment regimen when he used more than one doctor.

“It is not always the same doctor on duty,” Juskewitch said of the treatment program. He said Golden tested positive for opiate use after he was having trouble falling asleep one night and took some of his grandmother’s cough medicine.

Golden also was ordered Thursday to pay $111 to cover the costs of his court-ordered drug test.

Kellett said that despite the recent violations, Golden has been avoiding trouble and complying with the instructions of his probation officer.

“He’s doing well,” she said. His probation officer “has said he has a remarkable change of attitude.”