Bangor man pleads guilty, no contest to 20 charges

BANGOR – A Bangor man pleaded guilty or no contest Monday in Penobscot County Superior Court to 20 charges, including nine counts of burglary and five counts of theft.

Ricky E. Block, 38, was placed on the Brewer Police Department’s “Most Wanted” list in October after he was linked to the Oct. 13 daylight robberies of two Brewer businesses.

The other seven burglaries included residential break-ins in June and July in Bangor and break-ins in October at offices on Harlow Street in Bangor.

Other charges included forgery, unauthorized use of property, failure to appear, operating under the influence of intoxicants, operating without a license and violating conditions of release.

Block told Maine Superior Court Justice S. Kirk Studstrup on Monday that he was pleading guilty to the crimes he remembered committing and no contest to the ones he did not, but believed he would be convicted of.

A plea agreement states that prosecutors will recommend Block serve a minimum of 10 years in prison, Michael Roberts, Penobscot County deputy district attorney, said Monday.

If sentenced to the maximum on each charge and ordered to serve the sentences consecutively, Block could be sent to prison for more than 100 years.

Sentencing was set for 2:30 p.m. Thursday to give prosecutors and Block time to contact victims and witnesses who might want to testify.

Roberts told Studstrup that he was not seeking the estimated $27,000 in restitution Block owed victims because it was unlikely he would be able to make payment.

Block was convicted of burglaries in 1996 in Cumberland County and in 2001 in Kennebec County.

He is serving a four-year sentence on the 2001 burglaries after his probation was revoked when he was arrested on the Penobscot County charges.