DEER ISLE, Maine — A local man and woman each are facing charges of unsworn falsification after allegedly reporting that guns and a safe full of cash had been stolen from an unoccupied house in Sedgwick.
According to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, the eight firearms and the fireproof safe, which the duo claimed contained $30,000, were seized by authorities in a Dec. 21, 2015, drug bust in Orland. The sheriff’s department determined, however, that the guns, safe and cash inside had not been stolen.
Joshua J. Hendrixson and Sandra D. Dembowski, both 26 of Deer Isle, allegedly contacted the sheriff’s department on Dec. 22, the day after the drug bust, to report the supposed theft.
Hendrixson, who was on bail conditions, and Dembowski, who was wanted on an active arrest warrant out of Hancock County for failure to pay fines, were arrested on Jan. 7, when they were charged with unsworn falsification for reporting that the firearms and safe full of cash had been stolen from them, according to Maj. Richard Bishop of the sheriff’s department
Bishop declined Thursday to provide additional details about the alleged false theft report or what kind of relationship Hendrixson or Dembowski may have, if any, with three people who were arrested in the Dec. 21 drug bust. He said the investigation by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the sheriff’s department is ongoing.
The drug bust, which police say culminated from a yearlong investigation, resulted in the seizure of 400 grams of heroin, 22 pounds of marijuana, 750 oxycodone pills, $40,000 cash, two vehicles and more than a dozen firearms, police said at the time.
