BANGOR, Maine — A former University of Maine student accused of trying to break into the home of the campus police officer who refused to dismiss a parking ticket pleaded guilty Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to burglary and other charges.
Luke Cushman-Cole, 21, of Fletchers Landing Township, which is adjacent to Ellsworth, pleaded guilty to one count each of burglary, a Class B crime, and criminal threatening and criminal mischief, both Class D crimes.
Superior Court Justice William Anderson accepted Cushman-Cole’s guilty plea but delayed imposing a sentence. A sentencing date has not been set.
Anderson said he wanted to consider impact the crime had on the victims and weigh the defendant’s reported inability to sleep for six days before the crime, as well as his criminal record. As a 17-year-old, Cushman-Cole was convicted of five armed robberies in Alabama. He told Anderson his father forced him to do them.
The victim, Alan Stormann, 66, of Old Town, urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 10 years on the burglary charge. The now retired lieutenant with the University of Maine Police Department told Anderson he, his wife and disabled son were home the night of Nov. 2, 2014, when they were awakened at 3 a.m. by a crashing sound.
“He was trying to get in through the living room window,” Stormann told the judge. “He was tangled in the blinds. I struggled with him and hollered for my wife to get my gun.”
The intruder was wearing a mask and holding what turned out to be a fake gun. In the dark, Stormann said he believed it was a real revolver.
Stormann told the judge that while his wife was on the telephone with a dispatcher, she handed him his rifle but it was not loaded.
“I had gone hunting the day before and (had) forgotten to bring the ammunition into the house,” he said. “I pointed the rifle at him and told him to get out of my house.”
Officer Keith Emery was on his way to the home when he saw a vehicle pass him in the opposite direction near the Stormann’s residence on the Bennoch Road and made a note of the license plate, according to a previously published report. That led investigators to Cushman-Cole later that day.
Officers from Old Town, Orono, the university and Veazie went to Cushman-Cole’s dorm room and spoke with him through the door, which he barricaded, Tracy Collins, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County told the judge Wednesday. Because of the seriousness of the crime and risk of a firearm being involved, the dorm was evacuated and the Maine State Police tactical team was called.
Officers broke into his room and found that Cushman-Cole had tried to hang himself instead of surrender.
He has been held at the Penobscot County Jail, unable to post $20,000 cash bail, since his arrest.
Outside the courthouse, Stormann said Cushman-Cole’s car was ticketed for being parked in a fire lane outside a fraternity house. He said Cushman-Cole appealed the $100 ticket. Stormann, whose duties included handling appeals of parking tickets, said Oct. 15 he offered to drop the fine to $25, but Cushman-Cole was not satisfied.
“He got pretty excited, and I ended up telling him to leave my office … and thought no more of it,” Stormann said.
Stormann said that as a police officer he never expected to be targeted by someone with whom he had interacted on the job.
“You think about the victim all your career,” he said. “You think about the impact [the crime’s] had on them. And you know that when somebody breaks into your house, you longer are going to feel secure in your environment. And now your goal is, what’s it going to take to be there. I don’t think we’ll ever be there.”
The former police officer, who also served on the Old Town City Council more than a decade, also said that after Cushman-Cole was arrested he learned the student lied about his arrest record on his application to the university. Individuals with felony convictions are barred from being admitted.
Cushman-Cole tearfully apologized for his crime and begged the judge to let him go home to live with his mother and received treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.
Prosecutor Collins recommended a sentence of eight years with none of it suspended and no probation.
Defense attorney Hunter Tzovarras urged Anderson to sentence his client to between five and six years in prison with all of it suspended but the time he has been held since his arrest.