LIVERMORE FALLS – Police stopped a vehicle Tuesday night for speeding, and the driver took off running after police tried to identify him for an arrest warrant, police said Wednesday.
A tracking dog was called in and located the Vienna man in a hole near the Androscoggin River behind the library.
Livermore Falls police arrested Joel Craig, 28, on felony charges of escape and being a fugitive from justice, Livermore Falls Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said Wednesday.
Officers Steve Gould and Maurice Drouin stopped the vehicle at about 10 p.m. on Main Street for going 51 mph in a 25 mph zone, the chief said.
They did a normal driver’s license check through the Department of Motor Vehicles, Steward said. Police discovered that there was a California arrest warrant for Craig for a parole violation connected to burglaries and drug violations, he said. Craig had recently obtained a Maine driver’s license, Steward said.
Police contacted California authorities to make sure the man was the one wanted, and authorities in that state said the man could be identified by tattoos, Steward said.
When police were trying to check the tattoos, Craig ran off into the woods and went down behind the library in the thick woods and bushes to the Androscoggin River, the chief said.
Franklin County Cpl. Nate Bean and his tracking dog, Ben, were called in, as was Livermore Falls Fire Chief Ken Jones, who brought in a thermal-imaging camera.
Jay police Sgt. Charles Keene also responded to help with the search.
Thermal images of some foxes and cats were detected with the camera, Steward said, but it didn’t detect where Craig was hiding because he got in a hole below ground and apparently covered himself with bushes and twigs.
The dog found him down by the river behind the library, the chief said.
Craig is at the Androscoggin County jail in Auburn awaiting extradition to California, Steward said.
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