‘Career criminal’ was working two jobs and living under an assumed identity, complete with a valid Maine drivers license.

A Texas fugitive who had been living on Chadbourne Road in Standish for months under a different name, was captured without incident Sunday by Cumberland County Sheriff’s deputies.

At the time of his arrest, Thomas Lee Franklin, 45, of Texarkana, a border town in eastern Texas, was wanted by the FBI as a fugitive from justice and had outstanding arrest warrants in both Texas and Arkansas. Described by police as a career criminal, Franklin had previously been arrested in Montana, Arkansas, Wyoming and Texas.

When apprehended by deputies in Standish, Franklin had a Maine’s drivers license obtained using the identity of his imprisoned brother. He was also working two jobs, including one at a fast food restaurant near the Maine Mall.

Before relocating to Maine, Franklin failed to appear for a July 2009 court hearing in Houston, Texas, for two charges of theft. In October, he also failed to appear in Lafayette County, Ark., for a burglary charge as a result of a forced entry into a residence. Police suspect Franklin fled to Maine in September or October, assumed a different identity, and then moved to Chadbourne Road in Standish after living in Gorham for a short time.

Tipped off to his whereabouts by the Texas Field Office of the FBI, three deputies from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office arrived at 15 Chadbourne Road on Sunday morning at 10:45 a.m. to make the arrest. According to Chief Deputy Kevin Joyce, a woman later identified as Franklin’s wife, whose identity is not being released, answered the door and then yelled for her husband to come to the door. Franklin came to the door and deputies took him into custody.

It is unclear exactly why Franklin chose to live in Standish. Chief Joyce said a woman called his office on Monday, after initial news reports aired on Franklin’s apprehension on Sunday, to inform police that she had met Franklin online and that they had dated prior to Christmas. Joyce speculated that Franklin moved to Maine to meet the woman.

Franklin’s wife, likewise, had no ties to Standish. Joyce said she was on federal probation leave and had taken a bus from Texas to visit her husband in Standish for Christmas. She is due back in Texas on Feb. 1.

“The FBI somehow made a connection that she must be making a visit to her husband for the holidays. They connected the dots and asked us to make the arrest,” Joyce said.

Franklin was quite industrious while living in Maine. Far from hiding out, Franklin assumed a fake identity, managed to obtain a Maine driver’s license, and held down two jobs.

“Apparently, he was pretty secure in his new identity,” Joyce said.

Franklin worked at a fast food restaurant in the Maine Mall area and at a dry cleaning business in the area. While in Maine, Franklin was using the alias, Jamie Smith, which Joyce said he stole from his brother-in-law, who is serving 65 years in a Texas penitentiary for a sex offense.

Franklin is being charged with aggravated forgery in part because he used a fake identity to obtain a Maine license, a crime Joyce said is being investigated further.

“We’re working it backwards, to figure out how he got a license,” Joyce said. “From what we know now, he used an Arkansas license in the name of Jamie Smith. And he used a U.S. passport in the same name. You need two forms of ID to get a license, and they seemed to be legitimate documents as far as we can tell, albeit belonging to his brother-in-law.”

When asked why Franklin’s intake photo showed a black eye, Joyce said Franklin was belligerent during processing at the Cumberland County Jail and fell “face down on concrete” during correctional officers’ attempts to get control of Franklin.

“We watched the videotape; he was pretty uncooperative when he came in,” Joyce said.

Joyce gave kudos to the FBI official who “connected the dots” by assuming Franklin’s wife was traveling to Maine to be with her husband over the holidays. When the FBI official realized the wife was likely attempting to visit Franklin, Joyce said the official searched the Internet for the local police department and found the “Fugitive Files” Web site, a joint collaboration between the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and WGME Channel 13.

“It was a happy accident,” Joyce said. “He just happened to call us and give us the information because he found the Web site. It worked out pretty well.”

Thomas Lee Franklin