PORTLAND (AP) – Federal charges are being dropped against a New Jersey man who spent more than four years in custody following his arrest near the Bush family estate in Kennebunkport.

Theodore Miller approached Secret Service agents on Sept. 30, 2002, outside the home of former President George H.W. Bush to complain that he was being followed. He also said he wanted to talk to the president about a disability claim.

Miller was taken to the Kennebunkport police station, where a previous commitment to a mental hospital and two boxes of shotgun shells in his truck were enough to charge Miller with violating federal gun laws.

Miller, now 40, found himself in what his lawyer described as a legal “black hole” for more than four years because he was considered too ill to stand trial but he refused to cooperate with mental health professionals.

With Miller unlikely to regain mental competence but no longer considered dangerous, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff filed a motion this week to dismiss the charges. Miller is now living with his mother in New Jersey, officials said.

“Under these circumstances, the government believes it is no longer appropriate to leave this case on the court’s active docket,” Wolff wrote.

Miller ended up spending more time in prison than if he’d been convicted and sentenced, according to his lawyer, Bruce Merrill.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-06-01-07 1047EDT