Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

Police nab pellet-gun vandals

By Doug Harlow

SKOWHEGAN — Police have arrested two people, one of them a juvenile, on felony charges related to a string of pellet-gun shootings two weeks ago.
Joshua A. Richards, 20, of Pine Street, Madison, and a 17-year-old male from Skowhegan are charged with aggravated criminal mischief, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison, Skowhegan Police Chief Michael Emmons said Wednesday.
The juvenile’s name cannot be released because of his age, but if a formal juvenile petition charging him with a felony is filed in court, the district attorney may release the name at that time.
Emmons said there were a total of 32 motor vehicle windows shot out over a period of two days in Skowhegan, beginning Feb. 15, causing an estimated $9,000 in damage. In Madison, a school bus owned by a Baptist church was shot up to the tune of about $8,000, Emmons said.
State police and Somerset Count sheriff’s deputies are investigating other similar incidents in Norridgewock and elsewhere.
“They were all over Skowhegan — south side, north side of town,” Emmons said. “There were 32 incidents in Skowhegan alone. In Madison they have one where they shot the heck out of a school bus over there.”
Emmons said the juvenile was charged on Sunday by officer Don Avery and issued a summons to appear in juvenile court, based on information given to Skowhegan police Sgt. Keith Bigger.
“A lot of this information was based on public input, which led to the arrest,” Emmons said.
Madison police Cpl. Joe Mitchell arrested Richards for Skowhegan police. Richards was interviewed and processed at the Skowhegan police station and taken to the Somerset County Jail in East Madison.
Emmons said his department seized a CO2-powered BB- or pellet-gun as evidence in the case.
“The investigation will continue; there’s more interviews to be conducted,” Emmons said. “There were other parties that were in the vehicle at the time these things were occurring. There will be more interviews to be conducted here in the future.”
Emmons stressed the importance of having community assistance in solving criminal cases.
“I think the information the community provided to Sergeant Bigger was a big key in opening the door to solving these,” the chief said. “We really appreciate public input, because without them it may not have come to fruition quite this quickly.”