Maine man charged with kidnapping
9/29/09 | 17 comments
update

Maine man charged with kidnapping


By Bill Trotter
BDN Staff
Archie Whalen. (Photo courtesy of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Police Department)

ELLSWORTH, Maine — A man from coastal Maine has been arrested in Wisconsin after allegedly kidnapping a girl from her home in Kentucky.

Archie Murphy Whalen, 43, was found with the 13-year-old girl, who also has ties to Maine, in the parking lot of a hotel in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, according to officials. Whalen is accused of taking the girl from her home in Owensboro, Ky., on Saturday morning.

Dan Trelka, chief of police in Sturgeon Bay, said Monday morning that a nationwide Amber Alert drew the kidnapping case to his department’s attention. Whalen’s red Ford Explorer, which has Maine license plates, had been spotted Saturday afternoon headed north on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin. When Sturgeon Bay police talked to the FBI about the case, federal officials told them Whalen had a sister who lived in Sturgeon Bay, Trelka said.

Local police were looking for the truck when they spotted it driving into a local motel parking lot early Sunday morning, the chief said. Whalen and the girl were in the truck at the time.

“He was just pulling into the parking lot when they sprang on him,” Trelka said.

Whalen has ties to Hancock County in Maine, but according to Trelka, is listed on his driver’s license as a resident of Bristol, Maine, in Lincoln County.

Trelka said the girl had not been harmed while traveling with Whalen. The Bangor Daily News is not printing her name because she is a juvenile and an apparent crime victim. Medical personnel have seen her, and she is being kept at a shelter in the area until her mother arrives from Kentucky, Trelka said.

Whalen, who is being held at a jail in Sturgeon Bay, was expected to appear in a courtroom there Monday afternoon as the FBI and law enforcement officials in Kentucky and Wisconsin sorted out the legal aspects of how and where he will be charged, according to the police chief. Kentucky officials have charged him with kidnapping.

“He’s probably going to be prosecuted federally,” Trelka said.

Sturgeon Bay is on Door Peninsula, which sticks into Lake Michigan northeast of Green Bay. Owensboro is located on the Ohio River, just south of Pueblo, Ind.

According to press reports, police in Kentucky said the girl’s family had recently moved to the state from Maine, where Whalen had been an acquaintance of the family.

It was not clear Monday where the girl’s family may have lived in Maine. Bill Webster, superintendent of RSU 24 in Ellsworth, said Friday that state law prevented him from confirming whether the girl may have attended any of the unit’s schools during the 2008-09 academic year.

Trooper Dan Ryan of the Maine State Police said Monday that on Saturday he assisted officials with the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department in Kentucky in trying to find Whalen. Whalen, who has sisters who live in Hancock and Damariscotta, he said, had last been seen in the Ellsworth area on Friday, Sept. 25.

Law enforcement officials in Kentucky have said that Whalen has a criminal history that includes convictions in New York for rape, burglary and second-degree assault.

Whalen is not listed as a registered sex offender either in New York or in Maine, according to sex offender registry officials in those states. Whalen may not have been required to register in either state if he was convicted and then completed his sentence before Jan. 21, 1996, an official with New York’s Division of Criminal Justice Services said Monday.

According to media reports, Whalen became a suspect after he and the girl were recorded by a video camera at a McDonald’s in Hardinsburg, Ky., on Saturday. The girl’s mother subsequently recognized Whalen from the video, news reports indicated.

Whalen previously has faced criminal charges in Penobscot and Hancock counties, according to court records. He was indicted in Penobscot County in August 1990 on burglary and theft charges. In 2008, he faced a charge in Ellsworth District Court of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended or revoked, but the charge later was dismissed, court records indicate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comments
17 comments on this item
On 9/29/09 at 6:01 AM, nwayne wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thank God the young Lady was found so soon.

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On 9/29/09 at 6:10 AM, Angiehere wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"Sturgeon Bay is on Door Peninsula, which sticks into Lake Michigan "------It's Door County, not called Door Peninsula. Lived there for 10 years and that description is just as irking as someone calling Bangor BanGER. Glad the girl is ok but she'll need lots and lots of counseling most likely.

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On 9/29/09 at 6:52 AM, Stevey_Dee wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thanks for clearing that up Angie.

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On 9/29/09 at 9:23 AM, hokydad wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

and we care about the description why? That irks you? Wat a freak

put him in general population and shut up

he will get his soon enough

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On 9/29/09 at 10:30 AM, Erika2 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

this guy is a real dirtbag....I highly doubt (but obviously hope) that he didnt hurt her in any way........that poor little girl. If he didnt have the intention of doing "whatever" to her, then wh

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On 9/29/09 at 10:30 AM, Erika2 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

this guy is a real dirtbag....I highly doubt (but obviously hope) that he didnt hurt her in any way........that poor little girl. If he didnt have the intention of doing "whatever" to her, then wh

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On 9/29/09 at 10:32 AM, Erika2 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

oops....If he didnt have the intention of doing "whatever" to her, then what did he want with her

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On 9/29/09 at 10:46 AM, Amazed wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Erika2~ His intent was to buy her things, and marry her when she got older... etc... Wonderful man... "rolling eyes"

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On 9/29/09 at 2:06 PM, skidoo04 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Wow,was last seen in Ellsworth area on friday, and took this girl from her home in Owensboro, KY on saturday morning?This guy did some driving!

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On 9/29/09 at 2:47 PM, Centaurmyst wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Based on what the mother had to say, this guy someone managed to get the young girl to go alone with all the stuff he was filling her head with. He clearly was taking advantage of her. I'm not sure where her father is, but if this young girl was lacking a father figure it would make her a fairly easy target for a much older man to take advantage of. She probably left with him willingly. If the girl hadn't been taken advantage of and "brain washed", as her mother put it, then her mother wouldn't have moved her far away from this guy. The mom said that they left Maine because she wanted to get her daughter away from this guy's influence. Her mother deserves props for recognizing the threat to her daughter and doing her best to protect her from this guy.

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On 9/29/09 at 4:28 PM, Swamphog wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The other picture of this guy, that was shown on the news, reminds me of Tom from the movie 50 first dates. Also the bachelor guy on The Wedding Singer. Hi I'm Tom!!!!!!

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On 9/29/09 at 6:49 PM, Amazed wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Centaurmyst 2:47 PM~ I do agree the mom did everything right when it came to contacting the authorities, etc... She probably didn't realize she could do this, but she should have blocked his number from her phone. Then again, he'd probably just get another phone... new number... etc...

Skidoo04 2:06 PM ~ Yes, this guy certainly did do some driving!! That goes to show you how intent he was on being with this little girl. OBSESSED would the the appropriate word, I'd say. I'm sure he has underlying mental health issues (untreated), such as bipolar etc... as well as the fact that he's a pedophile.

I know that he raped a woman in New York and has a prior pedophile history... I just can't figure out why he isn't on a registry. That's just insane!!

I'm also wondering if the mother reported anything to police prior to this occurrence concerning his obsession with her daughter?

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On 9/29/09 at 8:53 PM, Centaurmyst wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Amazed...if his sex offenses occurred prior to 1996 he wouldn't be listed on the sex offender registry. I saw this mentioned elsewhere and am guessing it has something to do with the notification laws only applying to offenses that were committed after the registry was put into place. I'm sure if the mother was aware of his past she would have reported it. She most likely believed that moving her daughter far away would put an end to it. Under normal circumstances that would have been enough. How could she have known he would drive all that way and kidnap her daughter? As I said before...the girl most likely went with him willingly. I'm sure the mother didn't tell him where to find them, so it had to be the daughter.

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On 9/29/09 at 10:19 PM, Amazed wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I wish BDN could give us information about this man's past sex crimes... so that we'd know for certain about whether or not these occurred prior to 1996.

The Maine registry has sex offenders listed from the 70's... If this man was living in Maine, he should be on that list, but perhaps because it happened in NY... and NY doesn't put those who... committed crimes, were sentenced and released before 1996... that exempted him from having to be on the Maine registry, which really isn't right. It makes me very uncomfortable knowing that we have sex offenders walking around, who are not on ANY registry.

Just a note... This woman and her children came to Maine for a vacation, and that is when Whalen met the little girl, (according to other news sources). The mother does have a very thick Southern accent, so I'm sure she IS from the south.

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=11203825

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On 9/30/09 at 6:01 PM, Amanda1982 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

GOOD. PUT THE PEDAPHILE AWAY FOR LONG TIME!!

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On 9/30/09 at 6:55 PM, Centaurmyst wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Amazed...based on what I read it looked like he was convicted of rape in NY. There was no mention of the crime being against a minor, though. That might also have something to do with him not being on the registry.

Amanda...so far there isn't any indication that this guy is a pedophile. He's a sex offender, yes, and clearly pretty darn messed up, but it's not looking like he is an actual pedophile. Pedophiles are sexually attracted to children who are prepubescent. Teenage girls look like women most of the time, so it's not the sexual attraction that is off with this guy from the looks of things. It's definitely a serious problem with his judgement and it IS predatory in that he would be able to manipulate a teenage girl and take advantage of them. There is a name for that as well, but it's not pedophile. Someone who is attracted to a young person who is currently going through puberty is a hebephile and a ephebophile if the young person has gone through puberty but is not yet an adult.

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On 9/30/09 at 7:16 PM, Amazed wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Centaurmyst~ Very possible.

I want to know the specifics as to why he's not on the registries... can BDN please put together more specific information pertaining to such? Thank you.

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