ROCKLAND, Maine — A 38-year-old convicted sex offender was arrested Tuesday evening and accused by police of harassing young girls by contacting them on Facebook and Instagram even after they told him to stop.
Sumner P. Swett of Owls Head was arrested by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, charged with harassment by telephone or by electronic communication device. Bail was set at $500 cash but he had yet to make bail as of Wednesday morning.
If he fails to make bail, he would make an initial appearance before a judge Wednesday afternoon in Rockland District Court.
According to an affidavit filed by Knox County Detective Justin Twitchell, the investigation began when young girls at Medomak Valley High School and Medomak Middle School in Waldoboro complained to the school resource officer about Swett. The girls told police that he friended them on Facebook when they did not know who he was.
When the girls complained about his messages, he refused to stop. He told some of the girls that he knew where they lived and in one instance said if the girl did not reply she “would regret it.” He also said if she complained that police “aint gunna do s—”
The sheriff’s office obtained a search warrant and checked Swett’s account and found he had been contacting young girls around the country and that the conversations would become sexual in nature. The girls at Medomak were as young as 14 years old.
The detective said in his affidavit he feared that Swett’s actions would escalate to a sexual offense.
Swett was convicted in 1996 of gross sexual assault, according to the affidavit. The detective said the Owls Head man recently had been removed from the Maine Sex Offender Registry. There was no reason given for why he was taken off the list.