SKOWHEGAN, Maine — A local man told law enforcement that he was drinking alcohol when he made “vulgar and insulting” phone calls to the former chief of the Penobscot Indian Nation, according to Sheriff Dale Lancaster of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
Bryan P. Aubrey, 43, of Skowhegan was charged Friday with misdemeanor harassment by phone, Lancaster said in a Tuesday email.
“When Detective [Mathew] Cunningham confronted Mr. Aubrey about calling Barry Dana of Solon 10 times on November 10, using vulgar and insulting words, Mr. Aubrey admitted to the incident,” the sheriff said.
The insulting comments were left as voicemail messages for Dana, who served as the Penobscot chief from 2000 to 2004.
“I checked the [first] message and he introduced himself as Bryan and then went into a tirade about trapping,” Dana said Tuesday.
The messages left refer to a 2015 Indigenous Peoples Day gathering held at Lake George Regional Park in Canaan, where Aubrey claimed that he heard Dana give a speech about fur trapping.
Dana, who is an advocate for native rights and environmental issues, said while he hunts, he doesn’t trap, and he thinks that Aubrey confused him with someone else.
“I don’t trap animals, so I wouldn’t say I trap animals. I don’t go to the moon, so I wouldn’t say I go to the moon,” Dana said.
When Dana didn’t return the messages left by Aubrey, “he proceeded to call me again and again. He called back several times saying the same things over and over using all kinds of F bombs.”
The sheriff said, “Mr. Aubrey candidly admitted to having consumed alcohol before making the calls to Dana.”
The detective consulted with the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office and the state’s attorney general’s office about whether the calls should be considered a hate crime, Lancaster said. The attorney general’s office said that while “the phone messages are offensive … there is no specific threat” to warrant a Maine Civil Rights Act claim, the sheriff said.
Aubrey has a conviction for criminal threatening from 1991, when he was sentenced to 364 days in jail with all but 10 days suspended and one year probation, according to Bangor Daily News archives. Lancaster said Aubrey has a criminal history in the area.
“The majority of the interaction has been with the Skowhegan and what used to be the Madison Police Departments,” the sheriff said.
Dana said he just wants Aubrey to get some help.
“What I really hope happens is he stands before the judge and the judge becomes his elder and chews him out for it, and then uses the arm of the court to get this person some counseling,” the former tribal chief said. “The court does have that ability. Apparently, this guy’s issue is drinking. Perhaps rehab or counseling with that. I just hope he gets a lot of help and doesn’t do this again to anybody.”