Mom arrested in daughter’s assault

Old Town police arrested a woman Monday morning after she allegedly grabbed her daughter by the throat.

Officer Roy Peary reported that at about 10:30 a.m. he and Officer Seth Bear went to a home in the Regency mobile home park, where Jennie Holmes, 35, had reportedly assaulted her 19-year-old daughter.

Peary said they had been arguing over who would claim Holmes’ granddaughter as a dependent on their taxes, and that Holmes had grabbed her daughter by the throat.

Holmes’ daughter then tried to pull Holmes away by her hair, Peary said, and Holmes grabbed her by the arm as she fled. Holmes admitted grabbing her daughter by the throat, Peary said, but said it was to stop her from pulling her hair.

Peary said he and Bear decided Holmes was the aggressor. Holmes was arrested and charged with domestic assault.

After installing a silent alarm at a frequently burglarized construction site, Brewer police arrested a Carmel man and charged him with burglary Saturday night.

Cpl. Rich Smith said the Eastern Maine Healthcare site on Wilson Street has been burglarized multiple times over the past two weeks or so, with damage and thefts amounting to several thousands of dollars.

Smith said that he, Lt. Perry Antone and Officer Tony Pinette set up a silent alarm at the site that would transmit a signal to Brewer police cruisers if the site were burglarized. It went off just before midnight Saturday night, Smith said.

Smith said police approached the property without any lights on. He and Officer Rodney Gerald put on night vision gear, and with other officers, surrounded the site.

Smith said that as Pinette was circling the site, he saw a man carrying a cash box and a surveying tool. When Pinette identified himself, the man took off running, still carrying the loot. Officer Gerald ordered the man to get on the ground.

Smith said the man, Morgan Gathercole, 18, of Carmel also was carrying a camera with a Cianbro sticker on it and change that evidently came from a worker’s “cuss can.” He was charged with two counts of burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal trespass.

Smith said that Gathercole denied that anyone else was at the site. Brewer police nevertheless requested that Bangor police Officer Mike Jewett come and search the seven story building with his dog Rex. Smith said Rex did a thorough job, but nobody else was found.

Orono police and University of Maine Public Safety conducted three safety checkpoints to deter drunken driving on campus Friday night.

Public Safety Lt. Jeff King said that the number of OUI arrests this semester has reached twice that of last semester. Therefore, when the town of Orono received a grant to conduct safety checkpoints, the university decided to take part.

King said three major entrances to the campus were selected, and officers stopped every incoming and outgoing car between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Three summonses for OUI and one for illegal possession of alcohol were issued over the course of the night, King said. He added that the best indicator of the checkpoints’ effectiveness was the increase in taxi and foot traffic as the word got out.

King said he hopes Public Safety will continue to use safety checkpoints, adding that the only response he has heard from those affected has been positive.

Orono police Sgt. Josh Ewing agreed that the effort was effective and said the Orono Police Department plans to collaborate with Old Town police in a similar project.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball