ELLSWORTH – The state is seeking to try an 18-year-old Sullivan man as an adult, accusing him of causing an estimated $50,000 in damage to a Sullivan home when he was 17.

Christopher Kidder is one of two people accused of demolishing the contents of Ted and Joan Petterson’s home off the Quarry Road in April. The other, 15-year-old Sullivan resident Karl Whipple, pleaded guilty to felony charges of burglary and aggravated criminal mischief in May.

Kidder has an extensive criminal record, Hancock County Assistant District Attorney Pat Larson said Wednesday.

Before his most recent arrest, Kidder had been given suspended sentences to the Maine Youth Center in South Portland and to the Northern Maine Juvenile Detention Facility in Charleston for charges ranging from theft to failing to report a dangerous fire to aggravated criminal mischief, according to court documents. The documents indicate Kidder was on parole from the Maine Youth Center when he allegedly broke into the Pettersons’ home while the family was away and ransacked it.

Maine State Police, who were notified April 7 of the destructive spree by one of the Pettersons’ neighbors, characterized the damage to the house as “catastrophic.” Furniture was used to smash windows; appliances, dishes and bathroom fixtures were demolished; and books and picture frames were torn apart, they said.

Every window in the home and a nearby guest house was smashed, including one window that had every one of its 32 panes broken. A pickup truck parked next to the guest house had its windshield smashed and all of its lights broken, police said.

The Pettersons were on the road traveling from Florida to New Orleans during a vacation when the damage occurred. Police said a neighbor discovered the damage while walking her dog near the home.

The two were arrested April 7 after investigators questioned them and found coins and jewelry that had been taken from the Pettersons’ home in their possession, according to state police.

Kidder is due to appear in Ellsworth District Court on Aug. 10 for a hearing to see if he should be tried as an adult.