JAY – A man accused of stealing two trucks Monday, one of them a dump truck, from Verso Paper remained in a Farmington jail Thursday, held on $5,000 cash bail.

James Burnell, 35, also known as James Hodges, with addresses in Lewiston, Jay and Livermore Falls, is accused of driving a large Verso dump truck out of the mill’s yard with the bed raised, knocking down power lines, generators and snapping a pole as it drove onto Riley Road.

Power was out throughout Jay, Dixfield and Canton for an extended period of time that evening.

Jay police charged Burnell on Wednesday with aggravated criminal mischief, unauthorized use of property, criminal trespass, driving to endanger, operating without a license and violation of condition of release. Police had charged Burnell with unauthorized use of a vehicle on Monday night after the incident, police said.

The second truck Burnell is accused of stealing is owned by Specialty Minerals Inc., which is located on Verso Paper’s Androscoggin Mill property, a Jay police affidavit submitted to the court states. The truck was found in a creek on the mill property.

According to the affidavit, a witness spoke with Burnell prior to the dump truck accident. The witness said a man with a black face was walking through a chip pile, which is near the creek that the truck had been driven into, the document states. The man said that he had just been in an accident with his truck and needed to get to work, the affidavit states.

The man was wearing a hard-hat liner only and other witnesses had also seen a man filling the same description walking along the railroad tracks prior to the incident, the report states.

Burnell was out on bail from Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington at the time of the offenses. He does not possess a valid driver’s license, the affidavit states.

Burnell was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington for treatment after the accident. Initially, the hospital signed a release and police Sgt. Troy Young took Burnell to the Franklin County jail in Farmington. At the jail, Young was requested to bring Burnell back to the hospital due to blood test results, the affidavit states.

Burnell was released from the hospital Wednesday, arrested by Jay police and taken to the county jail.

A trial date is scheduled for Aug. 14, unless a grand jury indicts Burnell prior to that.

According to the police affidavit, a Central Maine Power Co. employee who worked on repairs at the scene estimated damage at about $50,000.