BANGOR, Maine — A Limerick man who was summoned for filing a false crime report that triggered an intense officer impersonation investigation in 2010 was arrested Friday in connection with a scam in which he allegedly accepted money for firewood but never delivered.
Justin Nichols, 30, of Limerick is charged with one count of theft by deception, York County Sheriff William King said in a news release. Nichols is being held on cash bail of $500, he said.
According to King, the York County Sheriff’s Office received information that Nichols was involved in fraudulent practices by selling people firewood, collecting payment and failing to deliver the cut and split firewood. Nichols’ preferred method of advertising was Craigslist, King said.
York County Deputy Shawn Sanborn took a complaint from a Waterboro resident on Monday who said he paid for firewood from a vendor going by “J. Nichols” and had not received the firewood. The victim showed that he had exchanged numerous calls and text messages with Nichols asking for the firewood.
After receiving the information, Sanborn reviewed Nichols’ record and learned that he previously had been arrested by another York County deputy for the exact same scam two other times.
Sanborn arrested Nichols on Friday, King said.
The firewood scheme is not the first time Nichols has been in trouble with the law.
Nichols previously promised firewood to a 58-year-old woman who paid $1,000 for the firewood she was planning to use to heat her home, the sheriff said. Another alleged victim was a 60-year-old woman who paid $500 for wood that never was delivered.
Those cases are pending disposition in court, King said.
In November 2010, Nichols was charged with filing a false report by the Maine Warden Service after he told the authorities that he had been checked by two game wardens “in a manner that was not consistent with current Maine Warden Service policies and procedures,” according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s website.
Nichols’ false report prompted a nearly weeklong investigation as no real game wardens were working in the area at the time.
Although Nichols was exact on some details of the alleged encounter, other specifics led investigators to ask Nichols to submit to a polygraph examination, a warden service official said at the time.
It was only after the appointment was set for Nichols to take the test that he admitted to Warden Eric Blanchard that the whole story had been fabricated, Sanborn said.
Anyone else who has paid Nichols for firewood that has not been delivered is asked to call the York County Sheriff’s Office at 324-1113.