On July 10, 2024 while visiting the beautiful Saint John Valley, I was arrested. Newly-promoted Corporal Ted Martin should have instead issued a warning to our tenant/roommate Kevin Thibeault for threats made against me, and lies told in the middle of the night to me and other family members on June 6, which frightened us.
In order to avoid being taken to jail in Houlton and be brought before a judge the next day...the notorious, nonrefundable "pay not to stay" fee (aka bail) of $60 had to be paid. My husband, Pete, paid it.
From a story at News Center Maine in 2018 by Shannon Moss "Getting out of jail in Maine: Who decides someone's bail after arrest" Anne Jordan says the bail commissioners set the bail amount and/or other conditions of release, and
...the taxpayers of Maine don't pay a penny for them. Bail commissioners make up to $60 dollars for each case, money paid for by the individual arrested.
Really? Taxpayers don't pay? I paid the $60, plus 4 days and 4 nights of my freedom on Memorial Day weekend 2025 after refusing to pay another $250 for failing to appear to pick a jury for what would obviously be a sham trial. I simply forgot to put it in my calendar. Rather than schedule it for another day, Judge Nelson issued a warrant for my arrest.
Nelson was the judge who was presiding over cases in Fort Kent on May 23 when we were scheduled to appear to evict a tenant who started renting a portion of th house from us in April, and tried to claim it all as his; I've nicknamed him Goldilocks.
The judge read the list of cases/names, and asked some to mediate. Soon the marshall politely told me that I was going to be arrested; I asked if it could wait until we finished up with the eviction case.
It was Pete's name I put on the paperwork in case I couldn't be there. He and the tenant mediated; I wasn't allowed into the room! That's okay, in the adjacent room I could hear alot of what was said by putting my ear to the wall. It was agreed he would get out of the home within about a week.
The Fort Kent Chief of police arrived. He's Michael DeLena. Once outside an Aroostook County sheriff deputy arrived to take me to Houlton County jail. I asked Pete to record the arrest on his phone.
During processing I was thrown in the hole for not complying, and left there for 18 hours. "I was born in Fort Kent, Maine" is all I would have had to say to avoid that; yet it was good to have experienced and survived it. Sing and exercise is all I could do in the hole. Sleep was impossible on a narrow hard bench with nothing but a blanket. If I even got close to sleep, screams from guys in cells near me kept me from it.
One guy was begging to go back to the shower, saying it hurt. I found out he'd been pepper sprayed. He was in for criminal mischief; I didn't ask for more details. It was difficult to hear each other through the prison doors. He was only 20 years old. I asked if he had family that helped him. He said he did. I asked if he had a girlfriend. I was surprised by his answer because it sounded l.ike "f*** you". It was actually "a few." When he was making noise some of the guys were telling him to "shut the f*** up", so I hollered out "he's just a kid."
The water was horrible, tasted like chlorine. After several hours in the hole, I started to cough. My throat felt irritated; I soon realized that it was probably ammonia vapors in the room that was the reason I was coughing. I asked for them to flush my toilet - a hole in the cement floor.
In passing by other inmates to get my lunch tray when I was moved to the general population, I mentioned my son's name. One of the inmates said her boyfriend, who'd just been released was Shane's friend in prison.
It took a whole day to get something for my lips; by Tuesday they were so chapped they were about to bleed! When the medic came, even though I wasn't on any medication I asked for something and she gave me some ointment which gave me immediate relief.
I wasn't given a phone call until Tuesday afternoon. Pete had waited in the parking lot for 6 hours because he thought I'd see the judge Tuesday morning and be released. One of the girls said from their window she could see a man in a white truck had been parked there for hours...it was Pete. I wasn't even given a phone call until Tuesday afternoon shortly before I was released.
Below you will see the status of my case.
The district attorney, satisfied that I'd been punished enough, dismissed the charges... though the only thing I'm guilty of is failing to consent to a scam court proceeding which would have ended in a finding of not guilty and been a waste of taxpayer dollars, and an embarrassment to the State of Maine.
