ORONO, Maine — At least two of the five juveniles identified as suspects in the late Monday afternoon vandalism of several sections of the Orono Bog Boardwalk are being issued summonses for criminal mischief.
In all, five teenagers believed to have been part of the group which vandalized benches and railings in 16 of the nearly mile-long boardwalk’s 509 sections have been interviewed by Orono police officers.
One, a 16-year-old from Eddington who has prior involvement with police officers, has received a summons for the Class E offense, which carries a fine up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
“They could get fines and/or have to repair the damage or provide community service, but jail time is absolutely unlikely,” said Orono police Capt. Josh Ewing.
The other teens involved in the incident are a 15-year-old from Carmel and three — ages 15, 16, and 17 — from Bangor. All are males.
“We’re certain that the one who has already gotten a summons actually did damage,” Ewing said. “We’re not certain all five did damage, but there are definitely two who actively participated.”
Ewing said the Bangor 17-year-old will likely also receive a summons despite no obvious priors and that punishment will be determined by the juvenile division of the Maine Department of Corrections Probation Services in Bangor.
Ewing made it a point to thank the public for help it provided in identifying all five teenagers, who entered the boardwalk around 4 p.m. Monday and exited 45 minutes later, attracting the attention of a boardwalk volunteer.
“We got a lot of help from the public, and we’re very grateful for the tips we’ve gotten, which directly helped us identify the suspects,” he said.
The teens caused approximately $140 worth of damage to three benches and a dozen railings along the bog walk.
They are all guilty by association. I don’t care if they did the damage or not.
Yup. We are judged by the company we keep.
I’d say these kids owe the community… Time for some REAL community service…
Punks!
There is plenty to go around.
The police should just let them go – the judge will.
Not.
Not only should the kids make amends but so should their parents – it all starts at home.
They’re just a little misunderstood. Parents are to blame for not getting them the help and medications they need. Their ADD needs to be addressed. Problem solved.
I presume you know these kids and their families personally.
I’m guessing you missed my sarcasm as well as my point. The point is, is that today we see more and more of this behavior by teens because a lot of people attributing this behavior to some sort of chemical imbalance that needs to be addressed with medications, when a good a## whoopin” would do the trick.
we wouldn’t want to hurt their self-esteem by say ……putting them in a cell over night…..or god forbid make them do community service for 100 hrs.
So, where are the commenters from yesterday who automatically assumed the perps were from Orono? Lot of wild assumptions on these pages, on many topics.
I think that between the City of Bangor, and the University a proper and resourceful punishment can be formulated. Pick up litter in Bangor as it relates to the boardwalk, and let the University staff work the hell out of all of them. Probation also comes to mind. You can’t sit a kid in a cell for 24 hours and expect it to make any sort of difference to them, they obviously don’t care, for whatever reason. If it works on one of them, it’s worth the effort.
Maybe they can work on the bog walk in shorts and t-shirts at peak mosquito season.
monson has a gang of wiggers now
Monson does?
yeah the town manager said so…they call themselves the “Green Saints”
If you put them in jail overnight, that probably won’t mean much to them like another poster said. However, if you put them in jail for 2 or 3 days preferably on the weekend when they would normally be having fun with their friends, I bet they would think twice next time. In addition, it would give them some time to think about what they did. These vandals
take away the enjoyment of others that use the boardwalk and that should not be tolerated.
For heaven’s sake – PRINT THEIR NAMES – let the public KNOW these idiots who damage and destroy for no reason – let them suffer like the public has to suffer when the place is closed for repairs. If this were one of my kids – I WOULD PUBLISH HIS/HER NAME MYSELF!! Protecting them by NOT making it public is enabling them to go on to bigger and better crimes!!