Weekend party in Township 34 nets charges against two dozen

TOWNSHIP 34 – The Hancock County Underage Drinking Task Force has charged approximately two dozen on alcohol-related charges stemming from a large party last weekend that at one point included an estimated 400 people.

In addition, two men will face theft and burglary charges, according to Lt. Tim Cote of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.

The task force responded to a complaint early Sunday morning about a large party at the Deer Lake campground, a private campground owned by Sustainable Forest Technologies just north of the Studmill Road in Township 34. According to Cote, the owners allow free camping at the campground, but were not aware of the party.

The first call came in at about 1:45 a.m. Sunday. Initially, reports indicated there were about 30-40 people at the party, Cote said Tuesday.

“As we gathered information, we learned that there were between 100 and 150 people there,” he said. “We also learned that at one point there were over 400 people there.”

The party was organized by University of Maine students and apparently is an annual event this time of year, which moves around from place to place each year, according to Cote.

Eight task force officers responded to the call and over the course of the morning issued summonses to some two dozen people. Those summonses were still being processed on Tuesday, and Cote did not have the exact number of people charged.

“We got what we could, but there were probably a lot more we didn’t get,” Cote said. “Initially, there was a report of a firearm and shots being fired at the campground, so we were more concentrated on that.”

Officers found no evidence of a firearm at the party, and there is some speculation that the “shots” may have been fireworks, he said.

As officers searched for underage drinkers, they found two men who were in possession of allegedly stolen items. Those items, which included purses and iPods, were later tied to several vehicles at the party that had been broken into.

Deputies charged Caleb Savage, 19, of Pocasset, Mass., and John Sugden, 19, of Dover, Mass., with burglary of a motor vehicle and theft.

There also was an undetermined amount of damage done to the campground, which, Cote said, was not large enough to handle the number of people at the party.

The underage drinking task force is a 12-member, multi-jurisdictional team created in 2005 using a $7,500 grant from the state Department of Health and Human Services to combat the problem of minors consuming alcohol.