BANGOR, Maine — Two men accused of three recent pharmacy robberies remained at the Penobscot County Jail on Tuesday night unable to make bail after making their first court appearances at the Penobscot Judicial Center earlier in the day.
Neither John D. Harmon Jr., 27, of Dover-Foxcroft, charged with the robbery Monday of a Bangor Rite Aid, nor John C. Campbell, 35, of Brewer, charged with two counts of robbery and one count of theft in connection with a robbery at the Brewer Rite Aid and a pharmacy at a Hannaford Supermarket in Bangor on Sept 29, entered pleas.
Superior Court Justice Ann Murray set bail for Harmon at $50,000 cash or $100,000 surety and at $3,000 cash or $30,000 surety for Campbell — the amounts requested by the Penobscot County district attorney’s office.
Assistant District Attorney Brendan Trainor told the judge he requested a much higher bail for Harmon due to his long criminal history, which includes three convictions for violation of conditions of release while on bail for other charges. Campbell has a limited criminal history, the prosecutor said.
Neither man brandished a weapon during any of the alleged robberies, Trainor said.
Harmon and Campbell both told Murray through the Bangor attorneys representing them at Tuesday’s hearings that they could not afford such high bails. Both men also asked to be treated for their drug addiction.
Campbell and Harmon are scheduled to make their next court appearances on Dec. 6.
Little new information about the three robberies was released Tuesday by police.
Harmon was arrested Monday by Bangor police on Webster Avenue North a little more than an hour after the Rite Aid pharmacy at the corner of Union and Fourteenth streets was robbed.
Police apparently tracked him to the location using a GPS device. It was in a pill bottle and was placed by the drugstore pharmacist in the bag with the drugs she gave to the robber, according to court documents.
Bangor police captured Jeffrey Macy, 46, of Eastbrook with the help of a GPS tracker on Sept. 30 after he allegedly robbed the same pharmacy, according to an earlier report.
When interviewed by Bangor police late Monday, Harmon denied he had committed the robbery, according to court documents. He later admitted he was the robber but said he was forced to do it to pay off a $7,500 drug debt.
Police took two other people into custody when they arrested Harmon. Information about whether they have been charged in connection with the robbery or other crimes was not available Tuesday.
Details about the robberies in which Campbell has been charged also were not released Tuesday.
Campbell fled Brewer soon after the robberies by boarding a Greyhound bus to New York, according to a previously published report. Brewer police Detective Fred Luce learned Sunday that Campbell had purchased a ticket to travel back to Bangor by bus.
He was arrested when he got off a Greyhound bus at Dysart’s in Hermon.
Details about where Campbell went and why he returned the way he did had not been filed at the Penobscot Judicial Center as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.
He told police Sunday he stole the drugs to feed his opiate addiction. He said he was unemployed and didn’t have access to health care, according to a previously published report.
Funny after they get caught, they all say, I want treatment……..must be some sort of lawyer mandated statement they use…….as they say, “it’s all over but the crying”….
Yeah, they all seem to see God…as soon as they’re caught.
Here is your treatment , 5 years in jail and once out no contact with any land or person in the state of Maine.
WTG……. best comment award!!!
Hopefully this young man will get the treatment he needs to stay clean and sober. I would suggest that the Acadia Hospital is an institute where he may get that needed help and the assistance to turn things around. I’m sure if given the chance he would become a productive member of our society.
Yup. He’s the victim. All he needs is a chance and he’ll be a wonderful church going, help a grannie across the street, upstanding citizen.
Maybe he would do that given the chance. People will surprise you. I could envision this young man volunteering for community functions such as parades or celebrations, working in community gardens to help feed the poor, shoveling driveways for the shut-ins and invalids. Yes, I’m sure this individual and his friends have a lot to offer.
I can envision this young man geting out and becoming a dirtbag again. Bootin pills and making more vicitms.
now thats funny HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
How about 15 years in Warren!
I agree that treatment needs to be/should be offered. But, I am sorry, I do not think it should be offered in lieu of jail time. If anything, it needs to be offered in correlation with time in jail. If he honestly wanted treatment, why wait until he is arrested to seek it and not haul himself up by his boot straps and go out and do it on his own? Or at least start the process on his own? I think a lot more people would be willing to give him a chance if this had been his first offense… but seeing that it is not, I don’t blame people for questioning his motives behind now wanting to seek treatment. Sorry buddy, but if you do the crime – you need to serve the crime! In the same breath, please get the help you need so you are not in this same situation again when you are released from jail….
No contact with any land? Is he supposed to float around?
why is there bail? judges have to get tough. rob a pharmacy automatic no bail, send a message no bail and you are going away so we know you won’t do it again.
simply put…the judge is now doing what needs to be done, during this robbery epidemic!! following the law…that is a reasonable bail!!
they can still deny if they want to this is a very serious problem we have here. look at all the manpower wasted to get this creep at taxpayer expense you see my point.
I do! a necessary evil to get these “creeps” as you put it!!l
Don’t worry Johnny! There will be plenty of opprotunity for you to get treatment in a program with the MDOC. The question is, what will you do with it when you are released?
Exactly! Like I just said earlier – I think they do need to offer treatment and I hope that he does seek to better himself through that treatment. But, he also needs to be held accountable for his crime and do his time! I hope he does see this as an opportunity to get help so we don’t see him in the papers again for this type of news story…
“…he was a drug addict and wanted to seek treatment.”
Better late than never?
I dunno. So seriously sick of the loser drug thing that it might be funny if it didn’t affect so many innocent people.
What did Mark Twain say “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it?”
Well, everyone is talking about the peripheral & collateral damage caused by these loser thugs & no one is doing anything about it.
This town has become a sewer.
Flush these rats by
Getting rid of the methodone “treatment” centers.
gee, if they’d thrown in a little child neglect/abuse along the way their bail would be pocket change
To me this is really sad. I know JD and this doesn’t even look like him. We need to crack down and make treatment easier to access before one more person dies. Sad thing is he has two little ones that are cared for by his mother. I hope he gets the help he needs, it looks like he is closer to death than life. I hope you find peace JD before it’s too late.
This guy has been this way for more than 8 years. A short sint in the Army , sent home because his sig was in a accident, children taken away from them. MAJOR altercation thiw sig involving knife. HE JUST DOES NOT GIVE A S””’T. Never has, never will!!!
Treatment is out there for those who want it. Those who want to kick drugs, drinking, stealing, etc, do it.
All druggies, robbers, thieves, child molesters, are great people that just made a few poor choices.
I disagree about all of them being great people because even jerks make poor choices.
It was sarcasm.
The problem with treatment programs is you have to want to quit or they don’t work ! You can’t wish , force or sentence someone to straighten out !
he needs to find GOD that will cure him.nothing else will work all he needs to do is think of his children if possible.
All of a sudden he wants treatment. This is how my taxes are being used? He can pay for his own treatment.
Maybe this is the ONLY “inpatient” treatment he can get. I don’t know if he works or has insurance, but there are very few places that will help for free. Hope House used to, don’t know if that is still the case, though.
I really do hope he gets some help. If you have never experienced the agony of withdrawal, then you really have no idea what some of these people go through. I am guessing this man is not enjoying having his face splattered all over the news but as more and more avenues of drug supply are shut down, addicts are faced with finding a supply. For many, just going cold turkey can be fatal, so that is not always an option.
I am not condoning what he did, nor am I trying to justify his actions, but addiction is a real problem. We need to crack down on sellers, but users should have an option of getting clean and staying clean. If this state had a “continued without finding” option for judges, then they could use that for up to 5 years, for example, for those who complete a rehab stint, submit to regular testing and stay clean for the period set by the judge. I don’t want to let people off their crimes, but if we could create serious incentives to get clean and stay clean, I think we would see far more people doing that versus going through the revolving doors of our courts and jails.
what are you talking about I read the waiting list in prison for rehab can be a year get the fact’s
That’s fine.If they get 10 years then they should be able to get on the list!
What is Webster Avenue the crime capital of Bangor? I feel bad for the good honest citizens in that area of town.
Life time criminal, living off the system and we will all continue to pay for this guy for ever. JD do us all a favor move to another country
Attorney Fowler should know from practicing law that the purpose of bail is not to be “affordable”. Its purposes are solely public safety, to ensure the appearance of the defendant later in Court, and to guarantee compliance with bail conditions if the defandant is released. It is clear that this defandant from Dover-Foxcroft is wantonly depraved with an abject indifference toward public safety. So, everyone withing 800 miles of Bangor is better off if bail cannot be made. Wise decision by Judge Murray.
Boo hoo, I would like to feel badly for them because they can’t make bail. But I just can’t get there.
i guess the board of directors do get email i gave them the gps idea few weeks ago but they only respond when it is for their own bennefit others said dont waste your breath complaining but it paid off regulars to the post will remember i mentioned it
….”they could not afford such high bails”….. OOOO Well enjoy jail.
where is kevin from bangor he left his fans out in the cold hope he is ok
I knew this dipturd in high school..well i knew of his family…bad crew all around.
We all know that more than likely this will be a 10 years all but 8 1/2 suspended
You obviously DON’T know his family! They are wonderful people. Yes his brother was also in trouble when he was younger but even he has turned his life around. As for his other family they are all amazing people, so don’t speak about what you don’t know! DIPTURD!
lol i went to probation with his brother many times…
I like how BDN now has the article named “Drugstore robbery” and not *Rite Aid” lol since Rite aid’s seem to be the most targeted. So when will all this stop? I saw another headline saying that most “drugstore” robbers are caught well not the Bucksport Rite Aid and I am sure that there are others too but just seems like they are all learning from one another what to do and what not to do.
growing up they were all called drug stores till the politicly correct crew got involved only the old family shops have the old sighn’s still in place
The best thing the judge can do is keep him AWAY from his children.
I am guessing that Mr Harmon has been playing with the system for years. Tax paying people are housing this guy, feeding him, paying his fuel bill and making sure he gets his food. All this time he is stealing what he can to pay for his drug habbit. I do not worry or care how he feels as he has withdrawls. I hope the pain is so great it forces him straight, because he will never do it on his own or for his family. This guy is a waste and will always be one for the tax payers to support. It is time to send a message to him and all the losers like him. Ship him far away, hold people accountable for their actions. Step up court system and start handing out punishment. We have young men and women giving their lives every day fighting for our freedom and worthless free loaders like Mr Harmon enjoying that freedom, giving nothing and taking every free thing offered and if that is not enough they steal the rest. As the elderly too proud go without meds and heat and food. Hold Harmon and the rest like him accountable set the bar high send them down the road.