Burglary foiled at Premier Video

A burglary early Thursday morning was thwarted after several nearby Bangor residents noticed strange activity going on at Premier Video on State Street.

At around 1:30 a.m., Bangor police Officer Brad Hanson responded to a report of a burglary in progress at the video store. Hanson reportedly noticed Eric Jipson, 30, of Bangor trying to hide behind a shed near the store. He ordered Jipson to the ground at gunpoint, and held him there until Officer Chad Foley and Officer Erik Tall arrived as backup.

Foley handcuffed Jipson, who had a long yellow screwdriver on him. Tall reportedly found shards of glass in his shoes. Hanson also noted that Jipson appeared to be intoxicated.

According to a police report, three witnesses said they heard a sound like glass breaking and went outside to investigate. They said they saw glass from a broken door window on the ground outside the store, and saw someone move around inside and then leave. They identified the person as Jipson.

A shirt that Jipson reportedly identified as his was found on the ground outside the store, with 44 DVDs he had stolen wrapped up inside it. He had also apparently tried to open the cash register inside with the screwdriver. A security camera inside the store confirmed the events.

Jipson was charged with burglary, possession of burglar’s tools, and violation of bail, stemming from an OUI on July 6 in Veazie. He was taken to Penobscot County Jail.

An accident on the Griffin Road Thursday in Bangor resulted in the discovery of numerous prescription drugs and the arrest of a Bangor man.

According to Officer Chris Desmond, at around 3:30 p.m., Roland Berry, 37, had rear-ended a vehicle while in traffic. Berry said he was looking down while drinking water, and when he looked up it was too late for him to slow down. No one in the other vehicle was injured.

Desmond said Berry’s speech was slurred, his movements were slow and deliberate, and he was swaying and unsteady while he stood. He did not smell of alcohol. Desmond later found that there was a warrant out for Berry’s arrest, stemming from unpaid OUI fines. Desmond arrested Berry and took him to Penobscot County Jail.

According to police reports, at the jail Berry said he had several medications in a pill bottle, which he claimed had been prescribed to him for an injured back. The pills in the bottle included sucralfate, Vicodin, colonapen, methadone, sulindac, hydrocodone and Valium. Later testing showed that Berry was under the influence of methadone, Prevacid and Valium when he was driving. He was charged with operating under the influence of drugs and possession of scheduled drugs.

Forty hypodermic needles were found by Bangor police Thursday at the Fern Street home of Eric Lamprey, among other drug paraphernalia.

Bangor police Officer Jason Stuart said Lamprey, 30, was out on bail, and the conditions of his bail included random police searches of his home. According to a police report, Stuart, along with Sgt. Thomas Reagan and Officer Eric Tourtelotte, entered Lamprey’s home around 3:30 p.m. and saw contraband in plain sight.

Tourtelotte placed Lamprey in handcuffs while Stuart and Reagan completed the search, finding 40 hypodermic needles, several spoons used for cooking drugs and several marijuana pipes. Lamprey was placed under arrest and charged with violation of conditional release and illegal possession of hypodermic needles, and was taken to Penobscot County Jail.

– Compiled by BDN reporter Emily Burnham