BIDDEFORD, Maine — A man who recently moved here from Ohio was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly stole cash and credit cards from an Ohio woman he lured to Maine via social media and online dating sites.
James A. Stone, 45, faces two felony theft charges, Biddeford police Chief Roger Beaupre said Friday in a news release. Stone also is charged with being a fugitive from justice because of active warrants from other states, the chief said.
Stone’s victim, a 46-year-old woman whose name was not disclosed, had brought her three children to Maine.
“We were able to contact the victim’s family in Ohio to obtain financial assistance for her and her children to return to Ohio,” Beaupre said.
Beaupre said that the Biddeford incident was the second in which Stone used social media and online dating sites to meet a woman and lure her to Maine to obtain money and credit cards from her.
Information about the other case, which resulted in a charge of felony theft by deception, was not immediately available.
Stone was arrested after the woman called police dispatchers late Wednesday morning to report that she had dropped her boyfriend off at a bank on Main Street about two hours earlier and that she had not seen him since.
The woman said that while waiting for Stone, she had left her vehicle running to keep her children and herself warm. She said she knew no one in Biddeford other than Stone because they had recently arrived from Ohio.
The woman said Stone had taken her credit card and that she was worried about the vehicle running out of gas.
Officers met with the woman, obtained some basic information and quickly found Stone, who was arrested after police determined he was wanted in Louisiana for receiving stolen property, in Pennsylvania for fraud, and in Kansas for a parole violation.
Beaupre said Stone has prior convictions for theft, receiving stolen property, forgery and fraud in Kansas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, South Dakota, Washington and Ohio.
Stone is being held at the York County Jail in Alfred on the theft charges, and the state of Kansas has placed an extradition hold on him, the chief said.