BANGOR, Maine — The second man police say had a hand in a grisly, drug-related triple homicide this summer was returned to Bangor on Thursday evening in advance of a scheduled court appearance Monday.

Nicholas J. Sexton, 31, of Warwick, R.I., is one of two men charged with killing three local people and setting them ablaze inside a rental car this past August. He was arrested at gunpoint on Oct. 4 in Brockton, Mass., and initially attempted to fight extradition but waived his rights in Brockton District Court on Wednesday.

Bangor police Detectives David Bushey and Joel Nadeau left for the Bay State on Thursday morning and arrived back with Sexton at the Penobscot County Jail at about 5:25 p.m. Sexton, handcuffed and wearing a white T-shirt, long black jean shorts and sandals, got out of the back of the unmarked police car and walked up a short set of stairs without saying a word.

Sexton will be kept separate from Randall “Ricky” Daluz, 34, of Brockton, who was arrested Oct. 2 in New Bedford, Mass., and returned to Maine the following day, said Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross.

Sexton and Daluz, who is also nicknamed “Money,” are charged with three counts each of knowing or intentional murder and one count of arson in the slayings of Daniel T. Borders, 26, of Hermon; Nicolle A. Lugdon, 24, of Eddington; and Lucas A. Tuscano, 28, of Bradford.

Penobscot County Jail officials are working out the details about how to handle having both triple murder suspects for both the short term and long term, Ross said.

“Those matters are being discussed,” the sheriff said. “They will be kept separately. They will not be in contact with each other, and there [are] also opportunities for different jails throughout the state” to take custody of one of them while they are awaiting trial.

Daluz, who denied his role in the killings when he pleaded not guilty to the four charges against him at the Penobscot Judicial Center on Oct. 4, is being held in protective custody at the jail, under maximum security, Ross said. Sexton also will be held in maximum security, he said.

When arrested, Daluz told Massachusetts police that he didn’t kill anyone and blamed Sexton for pulling the trigger on Borders, Lugdon and Tuscano.

The three victims died of gunshot wounds, police have said, and their charred bodies were found by firefighters on Aug. 13 inside a white Pontiac sedan, rented by Sexton, that had been set ablaze in the back parking lot of a Automatic Distributors at 22 Target Industrial Circle.

A person was recorded by Automatic Distributors video surveillance cameras walking away from the burning car, and Jeffrey Silverstein, the court-appointed defense attorney for Daluz, said Thursday that he believes the person pictured is not his client.

“There was only one person seen walking away from the car in the video and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my guy,” Silverstein said. He added that he has not seen the video evidence for himself and is basing his opinion on interviews with his client.

Sexton and Daluz were secretly indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury on Sept. 26, after which fugitive from justice warrants were issued for their arrests. Both have prior convictions for stabbing people in the Bangor area and for drug crimes, according to Bangor Daily News archives.

Sexton is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Monday at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor, Brenda Kielty, a special assistant in the attorney general’s office, said Thursday.

The attorney general’s office took over the case shortly after the three deaths were ruled homicides.

“The state has joined the cases together in hopes of trying them together,” Kielty said of Sexton and Daluz. “The defense can attempt to sever that.”

BDN writer Judy Harrison contributed to this report.

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