A large wooden cross was found in a suspect’s apartment.
LIVERMORE FALLS – Four people were charged Saturday in connection with a stolen cross and with the tampering of a new cross on a church lawn.

Because it involved the defamation of a cross, a report will be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office for possible prosecution under Maine’s Hate Crime Statute, Livermore Falls police officer Kenneth Bryant said.

Bryant said the incident unfolded between 1:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., and ended with the recovery of the stolen cross.

Police officers Maurice Drouin and Terry Wheeler were patrolling town with specific attention to the Eaton Memorial Methodist Church on the corner of Knapp and Church streets. An 8-foot heavy wooden cross erected on the lawn for Holy Week had been stolen Tuesday. A second, smaller cross built to replace it was erected Thursday.

During their patrol, Drouin and Wheeler noticed that a black shroud that had been draped over the new cross was missing since an earlier pass through town.

Rocks were also moved from the base of the wooden cross, Bryant said, and it looked like someone was trying to steal the cross.

The officers got out to check the area and heard noise in the woods behind the church, Bryant said.

Drouin took off on foot through a swampy, wooded area and Wheeler drove the cruiser around to Vine Street and stopped two females for questioning who had wet, muddy shoes, Bryant said. Drouin found the discarded shroud in the woods.

The Livermore Falls girls, Misty Duval, 18, and a 16-year-old were taken to the police station.

Later, Brian Harrington, 19, of Livermore, was stopped and gave conflicting stories about where he had been, according to Bryant.

He volunteered to accompany police to the station to have his shoe printed for comparison with tracks found near the church, the officer said.

When the female suspects saw him, they confessed to involvement in the theft of the shroud, Bryant said.

Further questioning revealed the involvement of a second male, who lived in Jay, Bryant said.

Jay police officer Richard Caton IV accompanied Wheeler to a Jay apartment, where a consent to search was granted by the person in charge of the property.

The second male, Carl Harrington, 20, of Jay, was taken into custody. The wooden cross stolen from the church lawn was recovered from Harrington’s apartment, Bryant said.

Brian Harrington, Duval and the female juvenile were each charged with theft of the shroud. Carl Harrington, Brian’s brother, was charged with theft of the shroud and with theft of the original cross.

The juvenile was released to the custody of her parents, Bryant said. The two Harringtons and Duval were bailed from the station, with a court date of June 9.
dperry@sunjournal.com<.000>

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