WHITEFIELD – Dennis Friel was behind bars again Thursday night after a probation officer reported he found marijuana in Friel’s home during a visit.
The 59-year-old was initially arrested last month when police raided his home and allegedly seized 10 pounds of pot, cash and a handgun. Friel and his 23-year-old son, Iam, were charged with trafficking marijuana in the Nov. 11 bust.
The pair was soon released from the Lincoln County Jail. But an official there Thursday said Dennis Friel had been arrested once more on a charge of violating conditions of release.
Part of the bail conditions set after the November arrest prohibited Friel from using or possessing illegal drugs.
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 chaotic, 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.
Friel is expected to go back to court to face the latest probation violation as well as earlier charges from the November arrest.
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