CHARLESTON – Police are looking for a convicted murderer – called “a ticking time bomb” by Vermont authorities – who reportedly stole a truck and fled from a Charleston residence where he was staying.

Kent Hanson, 62, originally from Brattleboro, Vt., served 20 years in a Vermont state prison for the 1985 murder of a woman acquaintance. Before that, he spent six years in a Vermont state hospital after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1964 killing of his wife. He also has a lengthy history of stealing vehicles and escaping from prisons, according to published reports.

Hanson was released May 12 from the Vermont prison at St. Albans and had been staying at the 2nd Chance Ranch, a transition home in Charleston owned by local prison chaplain Fred Maddocks, according to police.

Maddocks reported late Wednesday to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department that his pickup was missing and Hanson was gone, authorities said.

As of Thursday night, Hanson still hadn’t been found.An arrest warrant was issued just before the courts closed Thursday afternoon, Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said.

“Our understanding is that the truck was stolen at about 6:45 last night,” Almy said Thursday from his office. “Mr. Maddocks was at home, his wife had gone to work, and his daughter saw the pickup leaving.

“At first [the daughter] thought it might have been her father; then she realized later that [Hanson] had taken the truck,” the district attorney said.

Hanson is approximately 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 145 pounds. He has gray hair and brown eyes. He is said to be driving a 2003 GMC pickup with license plate number 78494.

The convicted murderer has both mental health and alcohol abuse problems, and when drinking, should be considered especially dangerous, Vermont police have said. He is not armed, according to authorities.

Dover-Foxcroft police and Penobscot County sheriff’s Deputy William Flagg visited Fox Brook Variety Store on Thursday to review a security video taken at the store.

Someone told police that a man who looked like Hanson had stopped for gasoline Wednesday night, according to Lt. Scott Arno of the Dover-Foxcroft Police Department. A man shown on the video looked like Hanson, but no vehicle on the premises at the time fit the description of the stolen pickup truck, Arno said Thursday.

Maine police have been in contact with Vermont authorities and with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Protection officials, but Almy admitted that Hanson “could be anywhere.”

Police aren’t sure what prompted Hanson to leave the residence, which the Maddockses call a transition home, but he apparently became stressed after neighbors of the 2nd Chance Ranch confronted him about his history, Capt. Tim Bombardier, chief criminal investigator for the Vermont State Police, said Thursday.

Maine authorities would not comment on any animosity directed toward Hanson from Charleston residents, but Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Dennis Dyer, who said he received word about Hanson last week, was less than pleased at his presence in the community.

“I’m a little upset that we had a convicted murderer living within two miles of the Dover-Foxcroft line,” Dyer said Thursday.

“The only thing I knew was what the lady from the [Maine] DOC [Department of Corrections] told me,” he said. “I realize these people have served their time, but I find out this guy is a time bomb and likely to do it again, which I wasn’t informed of.

“I’m really getting tired of Maine communities being a dumping ground for convicted felons from other states, ” Dyer added.

Community awareness

Almy, who lives in Charleston, said he found out last week that Hanson was in town when he was notified by a probation officer from Dover-Foxcroft area. Most townspeople were not immediately aware that Hanson was in town, but the man was a hot subject around town Thursday morning, Almy said.

“I was in [a store] this morning, and they were asking me a lot of questions about the fellow,” the district attorney said. “At that moment I didn’t know he had stolen a truck.”

A woman who identified herself as Mrs. Maddocks when answering the telephone Thursday at the 2nd Chance Ranch declined to speak to a Bangor Daily News reporter and then hung up the telephone.

There was no outside activity Thursday afternoon at the ranch, which consists of a two-story yellow home, a horse barn and a couple of outbuildings. The residence is located on Route 15 just beyond the Mountain View Youth Development Center on the Dover-Foxcroft side of Bull Hill, also known as Bud Leavitt Hill. A sign bearing the name of the ranch hangs over an old wagon wheel near the driveway.

A neighbor, Melissa Beauvais, said Thursday at her home at the top of the hill that she has had no trouble with the Maddockses, whom she considers friends.

She said she knew that the family boarded people, but she was not aware of their backgrounds. Beauvais said she visits the Maddockses occasionally to see the horses.

“The first I heard about it was [Wednesday] morning,” Charleston Selectman Richard Goodwin said Thursday afternoon in a telephone interview. “I don’t think a lot of people knew, and I don’t know of anything the town can do, but I do know people in the immediate area are concerned.”

Even some of the state’s highest-ranking law enforcement personnel were not notified immediately.

“I have no information that they contacted state police [in Maine], nor were they required to,” Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland said Thursday.

“We were not notified by Vermont authorities; we found out indirectly through the community,” Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said. “[Hanson is] not on probation or parole, and I don’t know a mechanism that would require him to notify us.”

Because Hanson has served the maximum sentence for the second-degree murder conviction and is not a sex offender, he was under no obligation to register with local authorities. However, Vermont corrections officials notified Maine correction officials that Hanson was going to be staying in Charleston, and the news started to circulate in the small town.

Hanson’s crimes

The latest charge against Hanson is Class B theft, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Almy said Hanson’s history is definitely a factor in the way he will be prosecuted.

“From our point of view, if he is caught, we’re going to ask for significant bail based on his history,” Almy said. “If he is convicted, then his history as a convicted murderer is certainly going to come into play as to what the sentence should be.”

Hanson’s criminal history dates to the 1960s. In November 1964, when he was just 21, Hanson was admitted to a state hospital in Waterbury, Vt., after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity in the killing of his wife, Joan Hanson, 22. The woman was found dead in the basement of their Brattleboro home.

Hanson spent six years in the hospital, escaping several times before he was released in 1970. He soon ended up in jail on other charges, and over the next 10 years escaped from prisons in St. Johnsbury, St. Albans and Rutland, Vt., according to published reports.

From 1980 to 1985, Hanson was in prison for escaping and stealing a car. He was released in 1985 and was out of jail only three weeks before he murdered Helena Warner, 43, a woman he met through her brother, a fellow inmate.

Hanson served his 20 years in prison for that killing. Aware of Hanson’s pending release, Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper had been urging Vermont legislators to pass “civil commitment legislation” that could keep Hanson and other similar offenders incarcerated even longer.

The proposed bill was in the works when Hanson, not required to have further supervision, was released last week and ended up in Maine.

Fred Maddocks’ wife, Christine, told police that she and her husband run a transitional housing program that offers people released from prison a place to stay, according to an affidavit written by Penobscot County sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Tibbetts. She also said that Hanson had been polite and hadn’t been problematic while at the Maddocks home.

Local authorities had little information about the residence and its ministry. Fred Maddocks attended a seminar recently in Camden with other prison ministers and arranged for Hanson to come to Charleston upon his release from prison, Penobscot County Chief Deputy Troy Morton said.

Sleeper said Vermont authorities were notified this morning about Hanson’s disappearance. His department decided to alert the public because of the possibility that Hanson could return to Vermont.

“It’s the only place he knows,” Sleeper said.

Mary Butler, whose mother, Helena Warner, was shot and killed by Hanson in 1985 and who has been outspoken about Hanson’s release from prison, was notified Thursday of his disappearance.

“I’m not surprised,” Butler said. “I’m hoping they find him with the truck. That’s grand theft.”

Residents in Charleston would just as soon see Hanson head out of town.

“Hopefully, the tank was full of gas,” Goodwin said. “I guess he’s probably not coming back to town; that’s a relief.”

Anyone with information should contact the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department at 945-4636.

The Associated Press and The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press contributed to this story