LAMOINE, Maine — One teen and two young adults have been charged in connection with unrelated mailbox smashings all over coastal Hancock County since the weekend.
On Tuesday night, a 15-year-old Tremont boy was summoned by a deputy from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of criminal mischief for allegedly smashing nine mailboxes all over Mount Desert Island with a baseball bat.
On July 28, Andrew Babonis, 18, and Dakotah French, 21, both of Ellsworth, were arrested by a Maine State Police trooper on charges of violation of conditions of release and criminal mischief in connection with “numerous” mailbox smashings on Beach Road and Douglas Highway in Lamoine.
Lamoine, Trenton and MDI have seen a rash of mailbox smashings in recent months, according to law enforcement officials. New reports come in nearly every week of damaged boxes, but Lamoine has been hardest hit, including 40 smashed in one weekend about a month ago, said Chief Deputy Richard Bishop with the sheriff’s office.
“That type of incident consistently happens in Lamoine for some reason,” Bishop said Wednesday.
The Tremont boy was summoned after a witness called police saying she was trailing a blue SUV along Cape Road in Tremont, Bishop said. The witness claimed to watch as a boy in the passenger seat leaned out the window and smashed boxes with a baseball bat.
Deputy Larry Fickett caught up with the SUV and summoned the boy, who later was released to his mother. The boy will have a court date on the criminal mischief charge in Ellsworth District Court.
Several boxes had been smashed Saturday night along Douglas Highway and Lamoine Beach Road. Babonis and French were apprehended by Trooper Cliff Peterson late that night after one victim saw the vehicle carrying the alleged vandals and took down the license plate.
”The occupants of the vehicle arrived at Ellsworth Police Department a short time later, stating that they were being falsely accused of damaging the mailboxes,” Peterson wrote in a report.
After an investigation, Babonis and French were arrested. They bailed out of Hancock County Jail on a $750 unsecured bond early Sunday morning, and will appear in Hancock County District Court on Sept. 18.
The Rev. David Henry, one of the victims in Lamoine, said his mailbox looked like it had been smashed with rocks, but that it was still standing.
“It’s more than a little senseless,” he said of the recent spate of property damage. “They seem to be persisting in doing it. Either that, or there’s a bunch of people doing it.”
Henry said he’d repair his box, rather than replacing it. It still works, he said, plus it’s held its own in the past.
“Ours has been battered before by the snowplow,” he said. “We’ll keep rehabilitating.”
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
I wonder if they would like to be punished like
one of the mailboxes they smashed?
18 and 21…..They need to get a life!
A grown up one.
These idiots should be tied to the mailbox posts and ….
Oh, I’ll just get my idea removed if I post it but you know what I’m thinking.
Smile pretty Dakotah. You’ve made a name for yourself now. Your parents must be so proud of you.
Big smile because she has a good idea she won’t do any time.
Edit: Deleted my post. It wasn’t very nice of me to make fun of the criminals in that manner.
It’s wrong, and they shouldn’t have done it and….but they were caught, and buy another mailbox already. No real need to hit them with bats or cars. Snow plow used to hit mine, until I fixed it. This crime, in my opinion, is right up there with toilet papering a tree in front of the neighbors house.
Till you have to pay for a few mailboxes. they happen to hit mine and well my mail was all over the ground including all our paychecks. so no it is not like toliet papering someones yard. what are you 12?
No, but I once was.
1)”including all our paychecks”..how many of you are there?
2)You get your paychecks in the mail?
Have you ever paid to have a mail box put in ? Mine had to be on a long arm due to a ditch. Because of that, cement had to be put in to hold the original post. When a dumb punk did this to me it ended up costing me almost $100 to fix it. Just the mail box alone is like $20 on the low end of cost. I didn’t have that kind of money at the time being a single mother of two. Ended up having to go into town to get my mail at the PO for two months while I got the money together.
Also, I get my pay check by mail as well :-) Don’t do banks because I can’t afford to give them even a few dollars in fees for all the garbage they charge. One overdraft would send me to the darn shelter.
Without restitution, there is no justice…
Restitution AND! community service. Since she likes to smile a lot she can be the post hole digger while installing brand new mailboxes
The movie Stand By Me is still alive and well. I always thought a mailbox, once erected, was property of the postal service and smashing or using one for anything except mail was a Federal crime. That is why the newspaper has a different box.
im glad these punks finally have been caught they hit plenty of them in lamoine
It’s the baseball bat’s fault. These were fine, up-standing, young citizens, until the bat came into the picture.
How many more Mr. Speaker? How many more?
Bats kill mail boxes. Ban all bats.
Babonis was in the juvenile system that permits poor behavior andhas no cosequences for their behavior.
This miscreant Babonis has a bit of a history already at this early point in his criminal career, including a weapons charge. Shame too– used to be a good kid with a dedicated mom that tried hard to see him make something of himself. What a loser. I hope he’s forced to pay restitution and gets some jail time. How many more times does he need to appear before a judge before he causes more harm than smashed mailboxes? He needs help– like 5-7 years worth!
I agree. If negative actions had negative consequences, there would probably be less antisocial behavior in the world. Instead, far too many parents and other adults who should know better make excuses. The favorite one is the bad childhood, but many of us had less than ideal childhoods and did not become antisocial punks. I say such circumstances, if present, may explain the behavior but does not excuse it.
Fill a mailbox with cement let dry and let fly. ;) Or figure out how to attract some wasps so they make a nest in it.
or make a mail box out of cement! If you fill the mailbox with cement then how is the post office supposed to deliver your mail?
cant deliver if wasps are there.
Here we go. Going to register baseball bats next. Big deal is this really news. He looks like his friends just caught him riding a moped.
You can tell, by the ignorant silly smile on that womans face that she cares not at all about what she did. She evidently cares for no one but herself.
Sadly, there are a lot of young adults just like her in this state.
Sadly, she probably doesn’t care about herself either. Anyone with any self respect would have a lot better things to do than this.
I think restitution, installing all the new mailboxes, a hefty fine, and maybe some jail time is warranted here.
I agree restitution would be good and it would be even better if the people with the damaged mailboxes actually saw a dime of it.
I don’t think there are many mailboxes in Charlotte that have not been smashed in the last couple of months. Mine looks like it was smashed with a baseball bat. I wish there would be more of these idiots caught and convicted to send a message that this is not just fun and games.
Hmmmm…I wonder if these 2 POS stole my mail a couple years ago… XMas presents I ordered from Amazon..for my nieces..guess what I’m gonna be using my Louisville Slugger on…their faces, that’s what.
Damaging a mail collection box would be a federal offence. How about a personal mailbox??
When my kids and I went up town tonight (around 6:30) saw these 2 sitting outside an apartment building on Foster St smoking away…. They looked real remorseful and heart-broken over the days events.
Just curious, why isnt this considered a FEDERAL offense? If there is actually mail in the mailbox, when it was smashed that should be considered tampering with a person’s mail, which i thought was a federal offense? I might be wrong, but if any of you know the answer please post..Thanks.
I believe it only becomes a federal thing if someone opens mail containing private information. But I’m no lawyer so don’t take my word for it.
These are “good kids”, I tell you. Simply “misunderstood youth”.
It’s Bush’s fault.
I hear you, GW needs to pay for this….
Notice that they have cars… license plates, gas, insurance (?)… either they or someone else is supporting them. I would guess that if they have jobs and are supporting themselves they would not be doing this. Somebody is “helping” them, I think, and if that person(s) really wants to do them a favor, take away the cars and force them to WORK!
You guys, GET A LIFE, what the (@#$#@) are you doing?
PS Our mailbox has been vandalized and replaced 3 times… and we will not repair it or replace it again. In its crippled state, it is now our badge of honor, like a battle scar. Maybe at some point the postal service will complain to us, and then we will holler high hell. The postal service should be involved in this, and the police (thanks to those who do get involved). We have called law enforcement and they have little to say, except don’t do anything to the perps if we catch them, AND GET A PO BOX… Other people tell us that the damage is from the snow plows or frost heave…. RIGHT.
PPS Thanks too BDN for reporting this… It makes me prouder still of my bashed box.
Good advice send the burden of expense to the cops, that’ll be incentive to catch the punks.
No disrespect, but what do you want the postal service to do?. as a carrier, we will deliver your mail to your box..if it is in such disrepair (like mail goes in, then falls out…gets soaked by rain ect)eventually we wont.It needs to be fixed. they will hold your mail for a certain amount of time, giving you time to fix it, or the mail gets sent back. when some little brats destroy them..get them out there work their asses off 2 replace them..confiscate his vehicle..sell it..use $$ to replace boxes..
This little dirtbag was the same kid who pulled a rifle when the cops came to his door…Too bad the cops took prisoners that night.
I see Dakotah has not missed a meal………She will be having a heart attack before she is 30….
He loves it.
He needs to take a life insurance policy out on her..
If the wealthy 1% weren’t vacuuming up livable wages and allowing millions to die in the streets from lack of health care (see sprucedweller for moving paean to Norway), we would be living in a wondrous and equitable society paid for by those rich b*****ds whose ill-gotten incomes exceed an unheard of and obscenely criminal $250k/year.
Yes, it is their fault..LOL
I am sure the smiling photo will affect the Judges decision when handing down a sentence.
Make her punishment a 3 mile walk two times a day.
What a shame that theres so much wasted labor and money spent fixing mailboxes that could have otherwise have been used to create something of value for the all of the victims. What an even worse shame for the poorer folks who need any and all of that extra time and money just to make ends meet.
Hancock County Jail Log
Written by Fenceviewer StaffMonday
December 12, 2011 at 12:37 pm —–
ELLSWORTH
— The following individuals were booked recently into the Hancock County Jail: Dec. 4 Andrew Babonis, 18, Ellsworth, driving to endanger, bailed.
Ellsworth District Court, cases April 23-May 18, 2012
Posted May 22, 2012, at 5:46 p.m.
Cases April 23-May 18, 2012
Andrew J. Babonis, 18, Ellsworth, violating condition of release, $300; sale, use of drug paraphernalia, $300.
Ellsworth District Court
Cases April 19-May 7, 2010
Andrew J. Babonis, 16, Ellsworth, loaded firearm or …
—-couldn’t find the whole story on this one.
I too thought this was a federal offense. Are the laws different in Maine or is it that things just aren’t taken as seriously as they are in other places for some reason?