Crime & Public Safety

The nature of crime in Washington County is changing, and this has the county's sheriff, Donnie Smith, alarmed. "We've had four home invasions since December. That's new and it's troubling." He notes that this change is something being seen across the state, not just Washington County.

Two and a half years after the death of Reid Emery outside the Down East Community Hospital, a state board has revoked the nursing license for the nurse supervisor at the hospital who allowed Emery, who was elderly, disoriented and heavily medicated, to be discharged during a severe snowstorm...

The mother of one of the victims in a double homicide on January 23, 2008, in Marshfield has been awarded $6,624,000 in a wrongful death suit. The action was brought against Richard W. Widdecombe Jr.

A 39-year-old resident of Lubec and Campobello who attempted to import into the U.S. Oxycontin pills has waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

"These people should be the best of the best, not the worst of the worst," says Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith, referring to a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) officer, shown drinking and driving and committing other questionable acts on a recently surfaced DVD.

A Honduran man who has worked at businesses in Harrington and Lubec was charged on February 6 in U.S. District Court in Bangor with visa fraud. Miguel Villanueva had produced false documentation when he applied to work at Worcester Wreath and ISF Trading Inc.