ROCKLAND, Maine — A Rockland man was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for a series of offenses, including trafficking in cocaine and theft of donation jars.
David A. Carver Jr., 39, was sentenced by Justice Daniel Billings in Knox County Superior Court.
Carver, who has prior drug convictions, was accused of trafficking in cocaine on Aug. 18 in Rockland and has been held at the Knox County Jail in Rockland since his arrest in August.
Police reports filed in court on the theft charges stated that Carver was twice observed on a video surveillance camera stealing donation jars — April 4 and April 28 — from the Keag Store in South Thomaston. The donation jars were on the store counter to benefit two people.
Carver, however, remained at large for several months. He was spotted on two occasions by police but he fled on foot both times. Rockland police eventually received information that he was going to be at a convenience store in Rockland, so officers waited and apprehended him.
Carver was also convicted of stealing an air gun from Corson Auto Supply in Rockland on June 25. A final theft was of a tiller worth more than $500 from Tractor Supply in Thomaston on Aug. 10. A video surveillance of that theft showed that he drove a pickup truck to the back of the store, placed the tiller in it and drove off without paying. He was spotted by a customer who reported the incident.
A little more than a year ago, Carver was in the same courtroom attempting to have jewelry returned to him that had been seized by police. The jewelry had been seized, police said, because Carver admitted to them that the items had been stolen.
Police were unable to determine who owned the jewelry and Carver later denied telling police the items had been stolen. In December 2013, Justice Jeffrey Hjelm nevertheless rejected Carver’s request to have the jewelry returned to him.