Maine Office of Public Safety wrap-up: Investigations, and an app for reporting drug-related activity
MAINE — Investigations regarding incidents continue in various parts of the state: a severely injured infant, and fatalities involving fire, motor vehicle accidents, and drugs. For the the first time this year, MDEA’s specialized hazmat / evidence recovery team was dispatched. And, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency has a new and free app for tipping off agents to drug-related reporting.
MDEA’s Lab Response Team was called out over the weekend of January 5 - 6 to process methamphetamine manufacturing in Bucksport and on Indian Island.
These are the first two responses in 2019 for MDEA’s specialized hazmat /evidence recovery team. In 2018 the team was used 52 times, compared with 58 in 2017, 126 in 2016 and 56 in 2015.
The most common method of making methamphetamine in Maine remains the “one pot” method, where most of the chemical reaction takes place in a plastic bottle, according to the Office of Public Safety. This process involves a heavy metal reacting violently with water and the plastic bottles can easily rupture, causing flames to shoot out.
This is a dangerous and toxic process and specially trained MDEA Agents are required to don fire retardant chemical suits, breathing tanks and masks to process the evidence.
January 5
Early Saturday morning, Penobscot Nation Police were called to a residence on Indian Island when a woman, 38, was found dead. Her identity and further details related to the death are not being released, although there is no evidence of foul play, police said.
While inside the home, police encountered items they believe had been used to make methamphetamine and called in MDEA agents to assist. The MDEA Lab Response Team was requested and collected samples for analysis and turned hazardous materials over to the Department of Environmental Protection.
The investigation into the meth making operation and the circumstances surrounding the death remain under investigation by Penobscot Nation Police and MDEA.
January 6
On Sunday morning, Jan. 6, Bucksport Police responded to a disturbance on Central Street and encountered items they suspected had been used to make methamphetamine. The MDEA Lab Response Team later searched the home Sunday afternoon.
Samples were taken for analysis and hazardous materials were turned over to the Department of Environmental Protection.
Drug agents and Bucksport Police arrested 28-year-old Megan Patten, charging her with unlawful operation of a meth lab. She remains at the Hancock County Jail.
MDEA agents, Bucksport and State Police previously seized a meth making operation at this home in November.
Overdose Death Investigation Update
On Aug. 25, Maine State Trooper Dana Austin responded to a dirt turnout on the South Bay Road in Franklin for a report of a female who was not breathing. The female, Nina Wallace, 34, of Sullivan ultimately died and an investigation was conducted. Detective Greg Roy assisted Trooper Austin with this investigation.
Over the course of the following months Trooper Austin and Detective Roy learned that two individuals had furnished and allegedly sold Fentanyl to Nina which contributed to her death. Both suspects were friends with Nina.
On Dec. 23, Trooper Austin arrested James Grindel, 54, of Waltham on a warrant for Unlawfully Furnishing of Schedule Drugs.
Jan. 7
Trooper Austin and Detective Greg Roy arrested Richard Drost, 44, of Sullivan on a warrant for Unlawful Trafficking of Schedule Drugs.
Trooper Austin and Detective Greg Roy were assisted with this investigation by, Trooper Gavin Endre, Trooper David Barnard, Trooper Joshua Lander, Trooper Caleb McGary, and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
January 9
State Police say a man walking in the road was struck and killed late afternoon, Wednesday, Jan. 9, in the town of Hancock. The victim, 67-year-old Terry Bragdon, of Lamoine, was dead at the scene.
Troopers said Bragdon was in dark clothing while walking on Mud Creek Road when he was struck by a pickup truck, about a mile from the Route 1 intersection.
Neither the truck driver, 47-year-old Amy Metcalf, of Milbridge, nor her passenger were injured.
The Hancock and Lamoine Fire Departments assisted troopers at the scene.
January 12
State Police are investigating the death of a man at a home in Alton Jan. 12. The victim was 51-year-old Joseph Webber, who was a transient, police said.
At approximately 11:15 p.m., troopers responded to the residence at 4591 Bennoch Road in Alton following a 911 call. The caller reported that there was a physical altercation at the home.
Upon arriving, troopers found Webber in need of medical attention. EMS then arrived and began rendering aid, but Webber died before being transported to a hospital.
There were three other adults at the home when troopers arrived.
An autopsy began at the State Medical Examiner's Office in Augusta. The autopsy results are pending additional testing.
State Police detectives have interviewed the other adults at the residence and no charges have been filed at this time.
Members of the Major Crime Unit and Evidence Response Team were at the residence all day.
January 14
State Police continue to investigate the death of a Clifton woman, found dead inside her home Monday morning. An autopsy at the State Medical Examiner's Office began Monday on the body of Kary Dill, 35.
State Police responded to the residence following a 911 call, and are continuing to investigate the circumstances of her death at her home at 311 Airline Road.
January 16
State Police continue to investigate how an infant sustained serious injuries inside his Vassalboro home earlier this month. The baby boy was taken to Maine General in Augusta on January 2 and then flown by the Lifeflight helicopter to Maine Medical Center the next day.
The baby continues to be treated at the Portland hospital.
The Kennebec Sheriff’s Office initially began the investigation and asked State Police to assist. Detectives have interviewed the father and continue to investigate how the baby was injured, as well as monitor the child’s condition, according to a police report.
January 16
State Police say a 24-year-old man was killed Wednesday evening on Route 117 in Buckfield when his car crossed the center line and struck a pickup truck head-on.
Troopers are still attempting to determine why Alexander Pond, of Buckfield, drove his car over the center line and into the path of an oncoming pickup truck at about 5 p.m. Pond’s VW Beetle struck a Ford F350 pickup, which was towing a trailer.
The driver, Stacy Cobb, of Wayne, was taken to the hospital as a precaution for non life threatening injuries.
Route 117 was shut down at the crash site for over five hours.
In addition to the Oxford Sheriff’s Office and Buckfield fire and rescue, the Paris Police Department also assisted troopers at the crash site.
State Police say one person was killed Jan. 18 in a one-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 in Carmel.
Troopers said a couple from Cambridge, Maine, were traveling north in a GMC pickup truck when the driver lost control in snowy conditions and the truck went off the road and overturned.
Kathryn Hallett, 66, perished in the crash. Her husband, Walter Hallett, 72, was driving the truck and escaped with minor injuries.
The crash took place off the northbound lanes at mile 171 about 1:30 p.m.
The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigations many times start with a tip from the public and now the agency has a new way for citizens to forward those tips, and do so anonymously. MDEA Director Roy McKinney said the agency gets an average of two dozen tips a month from concerned Maine citizens about suspected drug activity and many of those tips results in seizures of drugs and arrests.
Developed by tip411, the Maine DEA app is available for download free via the Google Play Store, iTunes App Store, or by visiting the MDEA’s website at www.maine.gov/dps/mdea.
“Someone dies every day in Maine from a drug overdose and all communities are affected by drug use and abuse. Our partnering with tip411 brings a new investigate tool to forward information to us,” McKinney said, in a news release.
The new Maine DEA app enables the public to share an anonymous tip with members of MDEA and allows agents to respond back for more information, all as an anonymous two-way conversation.
The Maine DEA app and tip411 texts utilize technology that removes all identifying information before agents see the tip, and there is no way to identify the sender.
Maine residents without a smartphone can also share information with MDEA by sending an anonymous text tip via their cell phone by texting keyword MDEA and their message/tip to 847411 (tip411). Anonymous web tips can also be submitted through the agency’s website.
MDEA’s telephones are another way to forward tips - the MDEA tip hotline – 800-452-6457, or an urgent tip can be phoned into the Maine Department of Public Safety’s communications center in Augusta – 800-452-4664.
Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com
