FAYETTE – A New Sharon man wanted by several law enforcement agencies for months was arrested Wednesday night on a warrant after a Ridge Road homeowner reported a suspicious person in the backyard, Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason said Thursday.
The homeowner apparently came out of the house and confronted a young man who then took off. The homeowner called 911 at about 7:30 p.m. The homeowner gave a description of the person.
Deputy Jeff Boudreau believed it was Michael Gatcomb, 33. Gatcomb is formerly of Livermore Falls.
Boudreau and Deputy Michael Sayers, and Franklin County sheriff’s Sgt. Nate Bean and his police dog, Bain, searched for Gatcomb, who had run off into the swamp, Mason said. The track went in a circular pattern.
Boudreau saw Gatcomb in the woods and eventually he surrendered, Mason said. Gatcomb was arrested at 8:50 p.m. and was taken to the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta.
Franklin County Sheriff’s Lt. David Rackliffe said his office had an arrest warrant out for Gatcomb. Among the charges were failure to stop for a police officer, attaching false plates, operating after driver’s license was suspended or revoked, and criminal speed of 30-plus over the speed limit.
“We’ve been looking for him for a while,” Rackliffe said.
Gatcomb was also had warrants out for him from Sagadahoc, Somerset and Washington counties, he said.
Franklin County Detention Center transport officers were going to pick up Gatcomb at Kennebec County Jail on Thursday.
New Hampshire State Police and Maine State Police have been looking for Gatcomb since Dec. 21, 2016, when a trooper tried to stop a vehicle on Interstate 95 in New Hampshire after observing a vehicle heading north and the driver “having significant lane control issues,” according to a release. The trooper also noticed that the Maine registration plate on the car belonged to another vehicle.
The trooper attempted to stop the car near the Hampton toll plaza but the Elantra kept going. State police were joined by other agencies as the car reached speeds over 100 mph, according to a press release. Maine State Police joined the pursuit when the car crossed the York toll plaza. The chase ended when the car came to a rolling stop about 2 miles north of the plaza after a front tire fell off. The driver of the vehicle had jumped out of the moving vehicle from the passenger side door and ran into the woods.
Rumford police received information that Gatcomb would be in the town on Jan. 8, and what vehicle he would be driving and the registration plate number on it.
A Rumford officer spotted the vehicle late that evening and followed it. The vehicle went the wrong way down a one-way street, failed to stop at two stop signs and fled the area and was estimated to be going 100 mph as it traveled through Oxford County towns to Jay, where an officer put down spike mats on Route 140, police previously said. The vehicle ran over the mats, which flattened two front tires, but kept going. Livermore Falls police located it abandoned on Bamford Hill Road in Fayette early the next morning.
Though Rumford police could not identify the driver, it was strongly believed that it was Gatcomb because of all the information police received, Rumford Police Chief Stacy Carter previously said.
Michael Gatcomb
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