FARMINGTON – A man who was caught stealing from Renys Department Store thanks to a sharp-eyed clerk pleaded guilty to a theft in Franklin County Superior Court. Due to an extensive criminal history, he potentially faces years in prison.
Bobbi Frappier, 32, of Bangor, pleaded guilty to theft by unauthorized taking, a Class C felony due to the value of the goods taken and prior, similar convictions, as well as violating the conditions of his release. He was also out on probation when the incident occurred, and admitted to violating that probation.
On July 5, 2009, seven months after being released from a Department of Corrections three-year sentence, Frappier borrowed a friend’s car and drove to Farmington. That vehicle was later spotted by a Renys employee in the alleyway between the department store and Homestead Bakery. The employee recognized the vehicle, thanks to a warning the Farmington branch had received from other Renys, and followed it.
The vehicle went up the alley, turning onto Church Street and coming back down High Street to park near SugarWood Gallery. The clerk than observed Frappier go into Renys, holding the door open for him.
Once inside, Renys employees and customers later reported to the police, Frappier took a large, plastic trash can from the basement into the clothing aisles. There, he took armfuls of Carhartt brand merchandise, a popular kind of work clothing, and put it into the bin. Renys employees then called the police.
Farmington Police Department Bridgette Gilbert arrived and interviewed Frappier, who claimed to be “Tim Frappier” and searched the store. Shoved in beneath a row of clothing, Gilbert found the trash bin, which had more than $1,200 worth of goods in it. She also located Frappier’s wallet in a corner of the store, which identified him as Bobbi Frappier.
Frappier, who has 15 theft convictions as well as other charges, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court. A sentencing arrangement between his attorney and the District Attorney’s Office hit a snag when Justice Michaela Murphy said she was unwilling to place Frappier on probation.
The agreement would have been for Frappier to serve the remaining two years of a suspended sentence from a 2006 theft conviction, and then serve a consecutive three-year term on the July 2009 theft. That sentence would have been served concurrent to an identical sentence arrangement for a case in Ellsworth.
However, Murphy balked at another portion of the arrangement, which would have placed Frappier on probation for two years after his release, with another five years of suspended prison time hanging over his head. Noting that Frappier had seven probation violations, Murphy said she wasn’t willing to include probation in a sentence.
“This is not a situation where I’m optimistic about his ability to survive probation,” she said. “Frankly, I see no reason to put this man on probation when we’re just setting him up for failure.”
Frappier attempted to argue for the arrangement with his attorney and the assistant district attorney, saying he could “probably bring in 3,000 people” to speak for him.
“I’m not that big a burden on society,” he said.
With the defense and state unable to come to an agreement for a straight sentence, which would not include probation, Frappier’s guilty plea would stand. A sentencing hearing could conclude the matter. Alternately, if Hancock County Superior Court was willing to subscribe to the original sentencing arrangement for Frappier’s Ellsworth theft charge, that could result in a five-year prison sentence, followed by two years of probation.
