A Bangor man faces multiple charges after what began as a routine traffic stop Monday in Brewer.
Brewer police Cpl. Roger Hershey said Monday night that the episode began shortly after 5 p.m., when Brewer police Officer Amy Nickerson spotted a pickup with an expired registration sticker traveling on outer Wilson Street and pulled it over.
When she approached the truck, Nickerson detected the smell of alcohol coming from the cab, Hershey said. When asked about that, driver Joseph Austin, 42, of Bangor admitted he was drinking a cocktail of whisky and Dr Pepper while on his way home from work. Nickerson found a cup with what was left of the mixture in the truck.
Though Austin wasn’t intoxicated because he had just started drinking, a search of his truck turned up a plastic bag containing a usable amount of marijuana and a pipe, Hershey said.
Austin wasn’t charged with the sticker violation, but he was summoned for pot possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and for consuming alcohol while operating a motor vehicle on a public way. (Dawn Gagnon, BDN)
···
Bangor police wound up with a two-for-one deal Monday after being called to the Wal-Mart Supercenter to investigate a shoplifting complaint.
The incident began about 1:30 p.m., when a store-loss prevention officer saw a man open a box containing a DVD player worth $70, remove the device and stick it down the front of his pants, Bangor police Sgt. Catherine Rumsey said Monday. The man — later identified as Keith Smith, a 20-year-old transient, then left the store, Rumsey said. The loss prevention officer followed him into the parking lot and called the police.
When police arrived, they learned Smith was wanted on two warrants for failure to pay fines or fees, arrested him and took him to Penobscot County Jail.
Police officers then learned Smith’s girlfriend, Courtney Alexander, 19, of Eddington, was waiting outside the Wal-Mart in a car. When they checked on her status, police learned she, too, had an active warrant, also for failure to pay fines or fees, Rumsey said. Alexander was arrested and taken to the county lockup. As of Mon-day evening, Smith and Alexander both remained behind bars. (Dawn Gagnon, BDN)