A jury cleared a St. George lobsterman of charges that he ordered the sinking of another lobsterman’s boat last fall, according to a Knox County District Court clerk.
Alan Norwood, 48, of Tenants Harbor was found not guilty Tuesday of paying his former sternman to sink the 36-foot Oracle, owned by Joshua Hupper, in the early morning hours of Sept. 1, 2016, while the vessel was moored in Tenants Harbor.
Norwood’s former sternman, Vincent Hilt of Vinalhaven, was sentenced to two years in prison earlier this year for sinking Hupper’s vessel after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated criminal mischief and felony theft. Delvin Meklin of Warren assisted Hilt in sinking the Oracle and was sentenced to two years in prison with all but three months suspended after pleading guilty to the same charges.
It had been alleged that Norwood paid Hilt $500 to sink the Oracle, but when Hilt took the stand in Norwood’s trial Monday he recanted earlier statements he had made to police about receiving money for the sinking, according to the Village Soup.
According to the news outlet, Hilt said in court that he sunk the Oracle without instruction from Norwood because he suspected Hupper of “messing with Norwood’s traps,” which was preventing Norwood — and, therefore, Hilt — from making more money.
When Norwood took the stand Tuesday, Village Soup reported he said Hilt had sent him text messages on the night of the sinking though he had never opened them. The texts from Meklin’s phone stated that the job had been done and that Hilt would be going to Norwood’s home to receive the money.
Norwood testified that Hilt arrived at his home shortly before 2 a.m. and asked for money to replace a phone that had gone overboard. Norwood said he gave Hilt $250 to $300 as an advance on his pay.
Damages to Hupper’s boat caused by the sinking were estimated to be about $50,000.
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