Sgt. Aaron Skolfield of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office walks down a long driveway at a home in Bowdoin where four people were killed on April 18. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer, file
A couple accused of stealing from the Bowdoin home where four people were shot to death earlier this year were found with forged checks and fake IDs based on more than a dozen stolen identities, according to police statements filed in court.
Michael J. Hall, 40, of Brunswick, and Jeanne I. Doughty, 43, of Bowdoin, were arrested last month after officers from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security searched Doughty’s home and found several items that had been stolen from 1459 Augusta Road, including jewelry, a laptop, a handgun and body armor issued by the U.S. Border Patrol.
At the time of the arrests in June, Sheriff Joel Merry did not explain how investigators had linked Hall and Doughty to the burglary of the home, which had belonged to Robert, 72, and Patti Eger, 62, before their deaths on April 17. Joseph Eaton, who had been staying with the Egers, has admitted to shooting the couple and his parents, Cynthia, 62, and David Eaton, 66.
But documents filed in West Bath District Court provide more details about the burglary and suggest the suspects were involved in a much larger identity theft operation.
THE THEFT
Robert Eger Jr., a U.S. Border Patrol agent, has been living at 1459 Augusta Road with his wife, Meghan, since his parents were killed in April, according to an affidavit from Sagadahoc Detective Sgt. Adam Temple. After spending four days with family in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the couple returned home at about 4 p.m. on June 19 to find items strewn around the house.
There was no sign of a break-in, according to the affidavit. Eger Jr. told investigators he had accidentally left two back doors to the home open.
The couple reported more than two dozen items missing from the home, including: three laptops; $30,000 in cash; three handguns; several pieces of jewelry, including a men’s wedding band; and Border Patrol credentials belonging to Eger.
Investigators were not able to find any footprints or vehicle tracks to aid their search for the thieves, according to the affidavit. But a search of the New England State Police Information Network’s Pawn Database revealed that Hall had sold some of the missing jewelry at the Coastal Trading & Pawn on St. John Street in Portland. Court documents from a pending criminal case against Hall revealed that he was living with his partner, Doughty, at her parents’ home in Bowdoin, located just 2 miles from the scene of the burglary.
BEYOND BOWDOIN
Sagadahoc deputies, aided by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security because of the case’s link to the Border Patrol, executed a search warrant on the home and on Doughty’s car on the morning of June 29.
They failed to find many of the items reported missing from the Egers’ home, including the $30,000 in cash and two handguns. But they did find several others, including a laptop belonging to Robert Eger Sr., a charm bracelet and one of Eger Jr.’s Border Patrol badges.
Police also recovered substances they suspected were heroin and crystal meth, as well as a bevy of other goods that may have been stolen, according to an inventory list from the raid.
A gray backpack contained two black costume wigs, a Berenstain Bears children’s book and an assortment of jewelry. A camouflage bag held a crack or meth pipe, several fireworks and a zip-lock bag with more than 100 scratch-off lottery tickets.
Authorities also found fake checks, fake vehicle inspection stickers, and seven fake Maine driver’s licenses featuring Doughty’s photo but the names, birthdays and addresses of others. Some of those names matched those on credit cards, printouts of payroll checks, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and other identifying documents police found in their search. Another fake ID included the name of a Peaks Island resident but Hall’s photo.
A notebook contained personal information on “a large # of people,” including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses and bank account information, according to the inventory list. One page that listed a woman’s personal information included a note that read “DO NOT GIVE THIS INFO TO ANYONE AND BURN AFTER READING! YoLo!”
Police arrested Doughty, who handed over a small amount of methamphetamine, and Hall, who investigators found hiding under a children’s bed as they searched the house, according to the affidavit.
MORE CHARGES LIKELY
Hall and Doughty have both been charged with violating the conditions of release and theft by receiving stolen property – an offense that involves them knowingly possessing stolen goods but not necessarily stealing the items from the Egers’ home.
Doughty also faces a drug possession charge.
Temple, who is leading the investigation into Hall and Doughty, told the Press Herald on Friday that police are looking into whether a third accomplice was involved in the burglary. But he also said he expects the District Attorney’s Office to file additional charges against Hall and Doughty as his investigation continues to uncover more information.
He said it was unclear whether the pair targeted the Egers’ home because of the attention the April slayings had brought to the home.
One Portland business owner said she only learned her identity had been compromised when a detective called her Friday morning and warned her to keep an eye on her credit score while police investigate the identity theft. She said it was surreal to be indirectly linked to the Bowdoin murders.
“It’s very jarring,” said the business owner, who asked not to be named out of privacy concerns in the wake of her Social Security number being compromised. “It’s obviously an invasion of privacy, and that feels very wrong too.”
Hall’s court-appointed attorney declined to answer questions about the case. Attempts to reach Doughty’s family members were unsuccessful.
The pair are being held in Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset on $5,000 bail as they await their Aug. 23 court date.
Copy the Story LinkComments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
