Two spring-action knives, one of them designed to look and operate like a cigarette lighter, were confiscated by Old Town police from a woman who said she needed them for protection while club-hopping.

A pair of brass knuckles as well as a bottle of vodka were also found in the car the woman was riding in at the time police stopped it for speeding on Stillwater Avenue early Saturday morning.

The passenger with the knives was identified as Janie-Leigh Stearns, 19, of Bangor and Brownville. She was charged with trafficking in dangerous knives. She also was charged with violation of conditional release as she was out on bail from a previous arrest in Bangor when Old Town police took her into custody.

Cara Hussey, 18, of LaGrange was identified as the driver of the blue Chevrolet Cavalier that Old Town police Sgt. Michael Hashey stopped for speeding about 12:30 a.m. Saturday on a road made slippery with snow. A computer check revealed that Hussey’s license had been suspended and Hashey reported finding a ceramic pipe with marijuana residue on it in Hussey’s purse, as well as the brass knuckles in the car’s center console.

Hussey was charged with operating a motor vehicle after license suspension and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The knives came into play after police smelled marijuana coming from the car and Officer Bobbie Pelletier asked Stearns to step out and empty her pockets . The contents of her pockets included a 5-inch flip-open knife and a small, silver object that Pelletier learned worked as a lighter but also had a button that, when pushed, would release and retract a 3-inch blade.

Stearns said they both had gone to clubs and that they kept the knives for protection. She said that they were a gift from someone from Massachusetts. According to the police report, Stearns also admitted that they had been drinking and smoking marijuana earlier.

Stearns had been arrested by Bangor police on Dec. 27 and charged with theft, after it was reported she took a pair of men’s shoes from The Shoe Dept. store at the Bangor Mall.

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A motorist thought that when he paid his court fine, he was all set to resume driving. He wasn’t, according to Old Town police who arrested him late Friday night and charged him with operating a motor vehicle after license suspension.

While paying the fine may have cleared up his court problems, as the police later explained to Chad McAvoy, 22, of Orono and Benedicta, his license hadn’t been reinstated by the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

McAvoy learned this after Officer James Charpentier stopped McAvoy’s vehicle on Gilman Falls Avenue about 8:30 p.m. after noticing a headlight was out. When a records check indicated his license was still suspended, he was arrested.

Taken to Penobscot County Jail, McAvoy was searched by a corrections officer who asked him whether he had any knives, needles, guns, dope or anything else he wasn’t supposed to have.

“Nope,” McAvoy told Corrections Officer Peter Garland, assuring him that there was no contraband to be found. Garland found two small bags of marijuana in McAvoy’s pockets. A strip search failed to find any additional contraband, according to the report.

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A little more than a month after a warrant was issued for his arrest, a man wanted in connection with a robbery at an Orono market turned himself in Tuesday.

Abernathy Miller, 32, who police acknowledge has an extensive criminal history, including for robbery, had been sought after by police since he was linked to the Nov. 12 robbery at the Thriftway Food Center. An arrest warrant was issued on Dec. 5.

Area law enforcement agencies were alerted to be on the lookout for Miller, who had gone into hiding. More recently Brewer police had been searching for him, believing he had been staying in their city.

But on Tuesday, Miller turned himself in to the Bangor Police Department and was taken to the Penobscot County Jail.

According to police, on Nov. 12, Miller and another man entered the Thriftway and tried to take several cigarette cartons without paying for them, hidden in Miller’s clothing. An employee confronted the two and Miller threatened her and insisted that she didn’t see anything. He also grabbed the employee and pushed her against the wall, an investigator reported.

Miller left the store, but allegedly returned to purchase some beer and also reiterate that the employee hadn’t seen him do anything.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli