WHITEFIELD – A man arrested on charges of growing and dealing marijuana in Whitefield this week has a criminal history in Androscoggin County.
Dennis Friel, 57, was charged along with his son after police raided their home Wednesday and seized 10 pounds of pot, cash and a handgun.
Friel was charged with aggravated cultivation and trafficking as well as being a felon in possession of marijuana. His son, 23-year-old Iam Friel, was charged with trafficking in marijuana.
For Dennis Friel, the arrest is the latest in a long criminal history. He has served prison time for drug offenses in the past, as well as sentences for being a felon in possession of guns.
In 1983, Friel gained notoriety after he was accused of spraying the number “666” and the word “Babylon” on 30 churches in Androscoggin, Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties.
Friel, a fundamentalist Christian from Bowdoin at the time, was charged in the spree after churches in Lewiston, Durham, Bowdoin and several other towns were targeted. Friel went to trial on a charge of aggravated criminal mischief.
The trial quickly grew into a circus, with the judge ordering Friel out of the courtroom and his lawyer remaining silent in protest as the proceedings continued. A mistrial was declared, and both Friel and his attorney, Andrews Campbell, were jailed for contempt of court.
Before Friel could be tried again, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that he was entitled to the defense he chose, and could not be tried twice for the same crime.
Friel was free of the criminal mischief charge, but in May 1985 he was convicted on two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Soon after, he became the focus of a manhunt when he failed to serve time on the conviction. In June 1986, he was captured after a dramatic chase in Bowdoin and was sent to jail to serve time for the felon-in-possession charge.
Dennis and Iam Friel were taken to the Lincoln County Jail in Wiscasset on Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday night, they had been released on bail, a jail official said.
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