Hermon man arrested in tool theft Suspect reportedly eluded police ambush while trying to return trailer

Hampden police arrested a Hermon man Thursday night after he allegedly tried to give back thousands of dollars of stolen tools.

At about 7 a.m. a contractor working in Hampden called police, saying somebody drove away with a trailer full of tools. Officer Joel Small investigated the theft.

The contractor called back later in the day, saying a former employee had called him. The man, Matthew Willette, 38, of Hermon, allegedly admitted taking the trailer, and arranged to meet with the contractor at a location just off Exit 42 on Interstate 95.

The contractor drove to the area with Officer Ben Eyles in the passenger seat. Officer Shawn Devine waited nearby in an unmarked car, while a Maine state trooper and a Penobscot County sheriff’s deputy also took up positions. While they were waiting, Devine said, the contractor received a cell-phone call from Willette, who said he was dropping off the trailer. But he dropped the trailer off in a different location.

Devine said a witness then called police saying a truck had just left a trailer and then headed south on I-95. Trooper Brenda Coolen stopped Willette just south of Etna. Some of the stolen tools were in Willette’s truck.

Devine arrested Willette and charged him with Class B theft. Ninety percent of the stolen property was recovered.

Willette later was released on his own recognizance.

Bangor police arrested a man after he allegedly beat up his girlfriend’s mother Thursday afternoon.

Officer Ed Mercier reported that about 4:35 p.m. all available officers were requested to go to a Pine Street address where a fight was going on. Mercier said he arrived to find John Pettegrow, 26, of Bangor in the custody of Sgt. Tom Reagan.

Reagan told Mercier he had arrested Pettegrow for assault on his girlfriend, her mother and Reagan.

Mercier said one woman had a large bruise on her forehead and was taken to St. Joseph Hospital. Witnesses said the woman, the girlfriend’s mother, had gotten a ride in a friend’s truck to visit her daughter, who was staying at the house on Pine Street to get away from Pettegrow.

Pettegrow arrived in his car just before his girlfriend’s mother.

Witnesses told Mercier the woman got out and approached Pettegrow’s car. Pettegrow got out, shoved her inside the car and started punching her in the face. When his girlfriend stepped between him and her mother, witnesses said, Pettegrow pushed her out of the way.

Police said Pettegrow then jumped onto the hood of the truck and kicked in the windshield. He then jumped onto his car and kicked in its windshield as well, while his girlfriend’s mother still was inside the car.

Mercier said the girlfriend did not want to give him information, and denied that Pettegrow assaulted her. She agreed that he had pushed her when she tried to get between him and her mother.

The girlfriend told Mercier it was her mother’s own fault that she was beaten up. She reportedly said her mother “knows he always gets this way when he has been drinking.” She said Pettegrow had been drinking all day.

Reagan told Mercier he saw Pettegrow throwing punches at somebody in the car over his girlfriend’s shoulder. After he handcuffed Pettegrow, he found the mother lying unconscious in the driver’s seat.

Pettegrow was charged with three counts of assault, two counts of criminal mischief, obstructing the reporting of a crime and operating under the influence of intoxicants.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball