In separate cases, handcuffed men were found by police tracking dogs.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

TEMPLE – Two men were charged with escape after they separately fled police cruisers in handcuffs in Farmington and Temple. A police tracking dog found the suspects in each of the cases.

The suspect in the Temple case also was charged with burglary.

Farmington police Sgt. Peter Barton responded to a domestic dispute about 12:30 a.m. Monday, Lt. Jack Peck said.

Christopher Nault, 35, of Farmington Falls was initially charged with obstructing the report of a crime, Peck said, after he pulled a telephone line out of a wall.

Barton handcuffed Nault and placed him in the back of the cruiser, which has no door handles but the power windows worked.

While Barton was conducting an interview inside the home, Nault allegedly put the window down and escaped, Peck said.

Police don’t know yet if he climbed out the window or if he reached outside and pressed the door handle, Peck said.

Farmington police plan to disable the back power windows in the 2003 cruiser, Peck said. The rear windows in other cruisers only go halfway down, he said, but in the newer cruiser, the windows go all the way down.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Cpl. Nathan Bean was called in with tracking dog, Ben, who found Nault near M.G.’s Video, several miles away in West Farmington.

He still had the handcuffs and his slippers on, Peck said. Nault followed a snowmobile trail to get to West Farmington, Peck added.

In the Temple case, State Police Trooper Scott Stevens and county Deputy David Rackliffe responded to a report about 12:15 a.m. Monday of two men removing an item from a garage on Maple Street. The caller reported the men proceeded to drag the item up the road.

Stevens said the resident who had been burglarized checked his garage and discovered that a generator, garden cart and chain saw were missing.

When Stevens came into the area, he said, he stopped Travis Martin, 20, who was walking and questioned him. Martin said he lived on Maple Street and was on probation. Stevens said Martin’s responses to his questions were suspicious.

Stevens said he called for Bean and tracking dog Ben, but they were diverted to Farmington to look for Nault, Stevens said.

Once Bean and Ben arrived in Temple, they tracked the missing items to a garage attached to Martin’s residence, Stevens said. The stolen property was visible through the overhead garage door, he added.

Stevens said Kenneth Storer, 22, of Wilton, who was at Martin’s, was also questioned and arrested on two warrants from Franklin and Kennebec counties charging burglary.

Stevens said he handcuffed Storer and placed him in the front passenger seat of the State Police cruiser as policy calls for. There are no cages in the cruisers, he said.

Stevens then went into the home to interview another person. In the meantime, Storer opened the door of the cruiser and escaped, Stevens said.

Bean and Ben were called back to the scene. By that time, Temple residents were heading to work and were calling in tips to police, he said.

Storer was located on Day Mountain Road and the dog tracked him to where he was hiding under a bridge, Stevens said. The trooper charged Storer with escape. Martin was charged with receiving stolen property and burglary, Stevens said.

Additionally, a new investigation is ongoing into several motor vehicle burglaries, Stevens said, that came to light during the earlier investigation. Temple residents who may have had vehicles burglarized are asked to phone police and report it, he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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