Corinna man accused of biting state trooper facing charges

DOVER-FOXCROFT – A Corinna man awaiting trial for manslaughter in connection with a motor vehicle accident in 2005 in which a Dexter man was killed now faces five additional charges after an altercation in Portland on May 10.

Brad Theriault, 30, is accused of biting a Maine state trooper’s hand after a traffic stop in Portland. Theriault was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Archie Maloon, who was arrested after the traffic stop for operating a motor vehicle after suspension. A spokeswoman at the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office said Monday Maloon’s case is pending but she could not provide his age or address.

In addition to assault on an officer, Theriault also was charged for refusing to submit to arrest or detention by using physical force, falsifying physical evidence, possession of Schedule W drugs, and violation of conditions of release.

Theriault is being held without bail at the Piscataquis County Jail until a bail hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. June 2.

In August 2005, Theriault’s vehicle had passed three vehicles and was attempting to overtake a log truck when he lost control of his car and it went off the road, flipped over and landed in the woods, police said after the accident.

Theriault’s passenger, John Sokoloski, 21, died either en route or when he arrived at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft. Speed was a factor in the accident and other conditions may have contributed to the crash, Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Dennis Dyer said after the accident. The accident was under investigation until Theriault was indicted by a grand jury in June 2007.

In the latest incident, Maloon’s vehicle was stopped by Trooper Thomas Pappas who had observed it being operated erratically.

Pappas, in his police report, said he arrested Maloon when he learned his right to drive had been suspended. From a record check, he knew Theriault had bail conditions, one of which prevented him from possessing drugs and allowed random search and tests.

While searching Theriault, Pappas wrote he noticed a bulge in Theriault’s right sneaker toward the toe area. When Pappas asked Theriault to remove his sneakers, the officer said the Corinna man grabbed something from the sneaker and shoved it into his mouth. Pappas said he heard a sound of something very hard being bitten and chewed and recognized through his training that it more than likely was crack cocaine. When Pappas went to subdue Theriault and get him to spit out the drugs, Theriault bit Pappas’ index and middle fingers, Pappas said. In the altercation, Pappas’ hand also was broken, which later was diagnosed by a local doctor.

Pappas said that when he and Trooper Joseph Bureau apprehended Theriault, he still was chewing on the hard substance. Ordered to spit out the contents in his mouth, Theriault instead spit blood at the officer, he wrote. Theriault then began convulsing, yet he continued to spit blood at the officers and attempted to kick them, according to the officer’s report.

After Theriault was taken from the scene for treatment and incarceration, Pappas said a search was done in the immediate area of the traffic stop. Troopers found four red saline bags containing a rocky white substance that appeared to be crack cocaine, and a drug-sniffing dog found three additional red saline bags and one black saline bag containing a white substance, according to his report. A field test was conducted on the opening of one of the baggies recovered from the scene and that had a positive presumptive test for cocaine, Pappas said.

A search of Maloon’s truck, which was impounded, yielded four baggies containing white substance, a glass stem used for smoking crack, a usable amount of marijuana, and three burned pieces of steel wool used for smoking crack, according to Pappas’ report.

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