PORTLAND

Biddeford man, 41, indicted on cyberstalking charges

A 41-year-old Biddeford man who allegedly used the Internet to stalk his ex-girlfriend even after she changed her name and moved from Maine to Louisiana has been indicted on federal cyberstalking and identity theft charges.

Shawn Sayer is accused of using email and the Internet to terrorize his ex-girlfriend for four years after they broke up in 2006. The woman told detectives that Sayer put her name and photos and videos that had been consensually recorded while she dated Sayer on Craigslist and pornographic Web sites inviting male strangers to her home for sex, according to an affidavit.

The woman legally changed her name and moved to Louisiana in 2009 to escape the harassment, but strange men continued to show up at her door in search of sexual favors even then, court records allege. She told police she feared for her safety and thought she would be raped.

Sayer was convicted of stalking in a state court in 2006 and last year pleaded guilty to separate state charges in a plea agreement that sent him to jail for 22 months. In that case, he was sentenced for violating bail conditions and violating a protection order.

If convicted of the federal charges, he faces up to 10 years in prison on the cyberstalking charge, five years on the identity theft charge and a $250,000 fine on each charge.

AUGUSTA

Democratic leaders to tour state, gather policy ideas

The Maine Democratic Party plans a statewide tour to get ideas from the public on what policies to pursue during next year’s legislative session.

Democratic leaders held a news conference Thursday in front of the State House to announce their Get Real Maine tour, which begins Saturday in Aroostook County.

Democrats are the minority party in the Legislature this year for the first time in decades. They say Republican rule in Augusta has failed Maine residents.

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant says stops in Fort Fairfield and Lewiston are planned, and the rest of the schedule is taking shape. Grant says 20 to 25 meetings will be held.

Republicans say the Get Real tour is a copy of Gov. Paul LePage’s Red Tape tour earlier this year.

LePage names his new communications director

A state official who had a long military career has been named communications director for Gov. Paul LePage.

The governor’s office announced Thursday that Peter Rogers comes to the office from the state Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, where he was deputy director for two years. He replaces Dan Demeritt, who resigned in April after his personal financial problems became public.

Rogers served more than 20 years in the U.S. Army and the Maine National Guard. Rogers and his family live in Yarmouth.

FRANKFORT

Woman, 29, whose dog killed daughter is arrested

State police have arrested a woman on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child when a dog killed her daughter three months ago in Frankfort.

Katrina Mitchell, 29, was arrested at her home Wednesday night. Her daughter, 7-month-old Annabelle Mitchell, was fatally mauled on April 12 in the living room while the mother slept on a sofa.

Mitchell’s husband was not at home at the time, and later asked a deputy to shoot the dog, a Rottweiler named Hannibal.

Katrina Mitchell was held Thursday at the Two Bridges Jail in Wiscasset.

East End Elementary gets $2.75 million federal grant

East End Elementary School received a $2.75 million, three-year grant from the federal government Thursday as part of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The School Improvement grants go every year to schools struggling with below-average proficiency and growth on the state tests established by No Child Left Behind. East End is one of several Portland schools on the school-improvement list.

Four schools received School Improvement grants Thursday, although East End received the most money. The others are: Ellsworth High School, $1.49 million; Fort Kent Community High School, $846,000; and the Mountain View School, $337,000.

The money will go toward afterschool programming, professional development and other improvements, according to a news release from the Maine Department of Education.

HAMPDEN

Biggest environmental fine in 20 years to be announced

Maine officials are poised to announce the biggest fine levied by state environmental regulators in 20 years.

Gov. Paul LePage and Attorney General William Schneider say the six-figure settlement to be announced today will be the second-biggest ever imposed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The Bangor Daily News identified the subject of the fine as Chevron Corp.

The settlement is in addition to the multi-million dollar cleanup being required for the former Chevron facility in Hampden. Officials say more than 140,000 gallons of oil was discharged over several decades at the site.

Samantha Depoy-Warren of the DEP said the largest environmental settlement by the department was just under $1 million, paid in 1991 by International Paper for air and water violations.

WINDHAM

Deputy fire chief involved in accident on way to call

Windham’s deputy fire chief was responding to a report of someone who had been shot in the foot when he was involved in a car crash Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Charles Hammond said Deputy Chief John Wescott was trying to merge into Route 302 traffic – he had pulled to the side of the road after learning he was heading to wrong address – when his 2003 Chevrolet Impala collided with another vehicle.

Wescott’s vehicle, a former police cruiser used by the fire department, was spun around. He was transported to Maine Medical Center where he was treated and released for bumps and bruises.
“He’s going to miss a couple days of work,” Hammond said.

Hammond said his crews were given the wrong address for the emergency call. They went to 112 Roosevelt Trail, on the Westbrook town line, instead of 1112 Roosevelt Trail on the Raymond town line.

The gunshot wound victim was transported by a Raymond ambulance with non-life threatening injuries. The motorist who hit Wescott’s car was not injured, Hammond said.

BANGOR

Court upholds conviction in stabbing of ex-girlfriend

Maine’s Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man who stabbed his former girlfriend twice outside a Bangor apartment where she was living with friends.

David Archer, 35, of Bangor was ordered to spend 13 years in prison for attempted murder and other charges from the attack in April 2008.

He contended that the trial judge erred in allowing three pieces of testimony and evidence at the trial. In a unanimous decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court rejected his contentions.

During the trial, Archer testified that he had taken drugs and didn’t remember the attack. The victim was stabbed in the chest and abdomen, with one wound coming within 2 inches of her heart.

Mexican national pleads guilty; will serve 15 months

A Mexican national is going to prison for 15 months for entering the U.S. after being deported and fraudulently using another person’s Social Security number.

Cesar Benitez-Salazar, 26, was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor. He pleaded guilty in March.

According to court records, Benitez-Salazar gave police a Maine identification card when he was arrested in Belfast on Oct. 31 on drunken driving and other charges. An investigation revealed that he had acquired the card by using another person’s Social Security number.

Officials say Benitez-Salazar had been removed from the U.S. to Mexico in 2009 and again in 2010.

ROCKLAND

Mother, 30, charged after leaving kids in running car

A woman is charged with leaving an infant and a young child in a locked car, with the air conditioning running, in a supermarket parking lot.

Rockland police say Angela Lash, 30, of Friendship was charged Monday with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Rockland Deputy Chief Wally Tower said police received a report about 3:30 Monday afternoon that the two children had been left in the car.

Investigators found a 3-month-old and a 7-year-old locked alone in the car.

Tower told the Bangor Daily News that because of the age of the children it is considered endangerment.