Franklin County Sheriff’s Office weekly report for Feb. 26 – March 4, 2016:
Deputies responded to 162 calls for service during this time period
2/26/2016 Deputy Brad Scovil responded to a 911 hang up complaint the Stratton Road in Dallas Plt. All was secure, a small child on the phone.
2/26/2016 Deputy Scovil responded to West Mills Road in Industry for a report of a neighbor parking/blocking another neighbor on the road.
2/26/2016 Deputy Scovil responded to an alarm on Bridge Street in Phillips. All was secure.
On 02/27/2016 Lt. David St. Laurent investigated a complaint that had occurred at a residence in Industry the prior week. According to the complainant, two men showed up at his house in Industry in suits driving a dark-colored sedan. They showed him their badges and said they were federal agents which the complainant thought they were either FBI or customs agents. They told the complainant that he had won a sweepstakes in Las Vegas worth $800,000 and that someone had tried to use his name and social security number to claim the money out of Florida and that he had to call 202-407-9398 and speak to a Customs Agent named Ivan Peterson.
The complainant called Mr. Peterson who identified himself as a US Customs Agent and told the complainant that he did win the money and that he had to send $1,000 to an account to claim his money that was being held with customs in Florida at the Miami National Airport. The complainant did send the amount of $1,000 to an address in Jamaica.
A few days later the complainant received another call from Mr. Peterson who again said he needed to send $1,250 (which the complainant did not do) became suspicious and called Lt. St. Laurent.
St. Laurent called the number and a male answered identifying himself as Ivan Peterson with US Customs. Lt. St. Laurent told him who him who he was, “Mr. Peterson” maintained that he was customs out of Washington D.C. Peterson gave St. Laurent the same story he told the original complainant. He even went as far to say that the complainant had been defrauded and he had the FBI come to his house and verify who he was so they could start the process. Mr. Peterson was very convincing but when asked questions about the money and why it was in Florida Mr. Peterson stumbled with his answers and eventually hung up. Mr. Peterson had a foreign accent.
Things to Note: When the White Pages were searched, the number did pop up as customs in Washington D.C. and showed the number as originating from Washington D.C., but when it was entered into a reverse directory – the number came back listed as private and White Pages cannot access it. Lt. St. Laurent entered the number into scam.com and it does come up saying this number is a scam.
The big concern to the Sheriff’s Office is that two men showed up and flashed badges to the complainant who initiated this by giving him this number to call. This happened in rural Franklin County Maine – if this can happen here – it can happen anywhere. Please keep in mind: Police officers do not come to your house to inform you that you have won a sweepstakes.
2/28/2016 Cpl. Matt Brann responded to the Whittier Road in New Sharon for a single vehicle accident. The occupant(s) of the vehicle was gone upon arrival. Two hours later the owner of the car called to report that her car had been stolen and that State Police had taken the complaint.
2/28/2016 Deputy Andrew Morgan responded conducted a traffic stop on Route 2 in New Sharon, as a result of the stop, a passenger, Ryan Morse, was arrested on a warrant for FTA for court in York County.
2/28/2016 Deputy Morgan assisted Trooper Monahan with locating and stopping a vehicle that had been traveling over 100 mph on Route 27. Trooper Monahan issued a summons the driver.
2/28/2016 Deputy Morgan responded to a single vehicle accident on Route 4 in Strong where a teen driver was injured after falling asleep.
2/29/2016 Cpl. Brann conducted a traffic stop on the Farmington Falls Road in Farmington, as a result of the stop a passenger, Jessica Turner, 30, of Jay, was arrested on two warrants.
2/29/2016 Deputy Morgan investigated what was initially called in as a theft of a milking machine and other related equipment from a farm on the Weeks Mills Road in New Sharon. Further investigation revealed however that this was a landlord tenant civil issue.
2/29/2016 Deputy Scovil arrested Thomas Gusler on Blake Hill Road in Phillips on a warrant.
2/29/2016 Cpl. Nate Bean responded to the South Strong Road in Strong regarding a complaint of people entering a house that had been foreclosed on.
3/1/2016 At 9:57 a.m. Transport Deputy Phil Richards was transporting three inmates from the Androscoggin County Jail to the Franklin County Jail; they were traveling on route 133 in Wilton. The initial investigation has revealed that one of the inmates, Derek Cook, 31, of Wilton (who was recently arrested in Androscoggin on a probation hold) slipped off one of his handcuffs (he still had on leg irons and a belly band and chain) and started to manipulate the side door with the open handcuff ratchet. He successfully got the door open when Deputy Richards noticed the activity going on behind him.
Cook threatened to jump out of the van, Richards stopped the van and confronted Cook at which point Cook fled into the woods with Richards in pursuit. Richards caught Cook in the wood line a fight ensued in which Richards was able to get Cook back to the transport van. Once there another fight ensued at which time Richards used OC (pepper spray) to no effect and Cook reportedly kicked Richards to the ground. Cook then fled down the road. Cook then ran to a residence located on Route 133, (still with leg irons on). According to reports, he forced his way into the residence by kicking the door open where the startled female homeowner tried to call police, Cook assaulted her keeping her from making the call and forced her to surrender her keys to her 2004 Jeep Cherokee with which he fled with.
While Cook was leaving the victim’s driveway in the Jeep, he was seen and identified by Wilton Officer Gary Allan and off-duty Sgt. Ed Hastings who were just arriving to assist Richards. Cook sped off on Rt. 133 towards Farmington with Officer Allen in pursuit.
Once Cook got to the intersection of Route 2 and 133 near the hospital, he was intercepted by Trooper Bernard Campbell who turned on the offending vehicle. Trooper Campbell was followed by Farmington Officer Bill Tanner, both pursued Cook onto the Knowlton Corner Road, the Webster Road, then turned east onto Route 156 and headed towards north Chesterville. Once in Chesterville they continued onto the Valley Road which eventually turned into the Dutch Gap Road. The chase ended when Cook reached the intersection of the Zions Hill Road and attempted to turn onto it losing control and striking a tree. At that point he was taken into custody by Trooper Campbell. Trooper Campbell charged Cook with all the charges accumulated during the pursuit, Chief Heidi Wilcox charged Cook with all crimes surrounding the home invasion, Lt. St. Laurent charged Cook with all the crimes associated with the escape. Cook is now facing eight felonies and five misdemeanors for his crimes.
3/1/2016 Deputy Scovil responded to a fire on the Mercer Road in New Sharon where the homeowner Casey Turner was severely injured and was transported to Maine Med. He later died from his injuries.
3/2/2016 Deputy Scovil investigated a report of a late domestic disturbance which had occurred on Dutch Gap Road in Chesterville.
3/2/2016 Deputy Sandy Burke responded to the Phillips Road in Strong regarding an out-of-control 8-year-old.
3/3/2016 Cpl. Kevin Hartley, Lt. St. Laurent and Lt. David Rackliffe assisted Jay Police with an uncooperative prisoner who was being delivered to the Jail.
3/3/2016 Deputy Scovil responded to Toothaker Pond Road in Philips regarding a suspicious incident.
Deputies conducted 11 building checks during this time period, all were secure; deputies also conducted six elder checks.
