Naked inmate’s odd behavior troubles jailers

MACHIAS – He won’t put on clothes, he growls like an animal and he won’t eat.

The behavior of a Baileyville man since his arrival at the Washington County Jail on Tuesday has made for “a stressful week for us all,” said Sheriff Joseph Tibbetts on Friday.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Department spent the day looking for a bed in a mental facility somewhere in Maine where the man can be safe. He had been referred for a psychiatric evaluation and was being examined Friday at the Down East Community Hospital in Machias.

Tony McLaughlin, 28, faces a Class A charge of aggravated trafficking in drugs. He was tracked down by law enforcement authorities in Santa Rosa, Calif., and jailed on Feb. 3. Maine Drug Enforcement Agency authorities made arrangements to have him returned to Washington County.

But the trip home, even in the company of two Maine DEA agents, did not go smoothly. He caused an in-flight commotion and was taken into custody upon landing in Minneapolis, authorities said.

“He was combative and uncooperative nearly the whole way home,” said Darryl Crandall, the MDEA’s division commander for Washington County. “But to what level, I can’t tell you. I haven’t seen all the reports yet.”

A third Maine agent flew to Minneapolis to help complete McLaughlin’s trip east by rental van.

When the van reached Portland and the Cumberland County Jail, McLaughlin was met by two Washington County officers who took him the last stretch to Machias.

Once in Maine, said Jail Administrator Robert Gross, McLaughlin generally settled down while traveling in restraints.

His first 24 hours in the Machias jail were normal, but his behavior since Wednesday has baffled jail guards: He stripped naked and hasn’t put clothes on since, the sheriff said.

Gross said McLaughlin was being held in isolation with a 24-hour video camera recording his actions.

On Thursday, when McLaughlin should have appeared in the Washington County Superior Court for arraignment on the drug charges, Gross told Justice E. Allen Hunter that bringing him to the courtroom would be a risk to public safety.

Hunter wrote an order for a Rule 15 evaluation for McLaughlin – which will indicate if he is competent or not to stand trial.

McLaughlin’s arrest stems from the MDEA’s allegation that McLaughlin had sold drugs to an MDEA informant last June. Crandall believes that once McLaughlin learned of that warrant, he fled the state.

MDEA agents determined that McLaughlin had been in the San Francisco area during the winter, but had not pinpointed his location. The Calais Police Department had recently obtained an address for McLaughlin in Santa Rosa, about 50 miles from San Francisco.

That information was passed on to the California authorities, who took him into custody. Drugs were seized from McLaughlin at the time of his arrest.

If convicted of the drug charge in Washington County, McLaughlin faces a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.

Tibbetts said that while the inmate’s behavior is bizarre, McLaughlin has not shown aggression toward the jail staff. Both Gross and Tibbetts reported that, while McLaughlin wouldn’t answer questions, he appears to understand their concerns for him.

“I sincerely believe he wants help,” Tibbetts said. “We are working with every resource we have to get him a bed in a private or state psychiatric facility for further evaluation.

“We have had a nurse here full-time and doctors seeing him every few hours. We have convinced him to take fluids. He’s under constant surveillance, but we don’t know what will happen next.

“Unfortunately, this seems to be another problem that results from our county’s drug problem,” Tibbetts said.