John Rogers Mincher, the former Livermore man wanted in connection with a 2004 crash that claimed the life of another man, was arrested late Wednesday in Orono.

Mincher, 54, was arrested on warrants charging manslaughter, criminal driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of a crash, driving with a suspended license and driving without a license.

He was indicted on those charges Tuesday, but until late Wednesday, police did not know where Mincher was. Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Detective Rielly Bryant, who investigated the 2004 crash on Route 4, tracked Mincher to Orono on Wednesday, and Maine State Police arrested him about 11 p.m.

Mincher is charged in the April 30, 2004, death of 60-year-old Carl V. Thomas, who was killed when his pickup truck was struck head-on by a truck driven by Mincher. Police said Mincher ran into the woods after the crash in an attempt to avoid discovery.

Police said the drivers were traveling in opposite directions on Route 4 when Mincher’s Ford Ranger drifted across the center line and into oncoming traffic. Thomas was killed instantly in the 6:45 a.m. wreck just south of the Route 117 intersection, according to police reports.

At the time of the crash, Mincher’s license was under suspension for the fourth time in 10 years, according to court records. Police said he was also driving drunk and that he had a prior conviction for driving while intoxicated.

Mincher was expected to be returned to Androscoggin County to face the charges against him. He remained in police custody in Bangor on Wednesday night.


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