CAMDEN, Maine — A Camden man will be dry docked for the next four months after being convicted of taking a boat, crossing Penobscot Bay and getting into an accident.
Michael Quantrell, 31, was sentenced March 25 in Waldo County Superior Court in Belfast to three years in jail with all but four months suspended for aggravated criminal mischief. He also was placed on probation for two years and ordered to pay $12,528 in restitution.
He also was sentenced last week in Knox County Superior Court to a concurrent sentence for tampering with a witness, related to the boat incident.
According to an affidavit filed by the Maine Marine Patrol, a 34-foot powerboat was found with significant damage tied to a dock in front of the Waterfront Restaurant in Camden. At first, authorities believed it was because of a hit-and-run accident.
Marine Patrol officers, however, also responded to a report that day of damage to a barge that was moored in Belfast Harbor. The barge had pieces of fiberglass that matched the powerboat in Camden.
The powerboat was under the care of Yachting Solutions, which provided it to Quantrell to use while on the job. Quantrell, however, was not authorized to use the boat for his personal use. Quantrell told Marine Patrol officers he docked the boat on the evening of July 26 and then had gone home for dinner, visited his mother and picked up a friend at a bar in Camden.
But the Marine Patrol review of a surveillance camera showed the friend Quantrell was supposed to have picked up was at the bar well after the time he said he picked her up. The investigators also talked with a friend of Quantrell, who said Quantrell told him he had friends from out of state who were in Castine and he was planning to visit them using the powerboat.
The Marine Patrol also obtained a warrant to review Quantrell’s telephone and text messages. One text from Quantrell told someone at 10:30 p.m. July 26 he was in Castine and had taken the boat. He later sent a text saying he was going to Belfast. Later, he sent a text to a friend, saying to tell anyone who asks that they had dinner together. Later, he sent other messages on how the person should respond if questioned by law enforcement.
Of the restitution, $10,406 will be paid to Yachting Solutions for its expenses to repair the boat and $2,122 to Carter Newell who owns the barge.