Police arrest West Paris man in Buckfield bank robbery investigation

BUCKFIELD – A West Paris man was arrested Thursday morning, charged with robbing a local bank at gunpoint Wednesday.

Investigators from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office arrested Joshua Mason, 36, after tracking him to a West Paris home. He was arrested without incident, police said, and taken to the Oxford County Jail in Paris.

Police said they seized evidence from the home, including cash investigators say was taken in the heist at Northeast Bank at 2 Depot St.

Oxford County Sheriff’s investigators worked on the case throughout the night, according to Chief Deputy James Urquhart, acting on leads and information from bank employees.

Bank officials had reported that at about 9:50 a.m. Wednesday, a masked man carrying a backpack came into the building displaying a handgun and demanding cash.

After the cash was turned over, witnesses said, the suspect fled on foot, got into a dark vehicle and drove away.

No one was hurt in the stickup. Police did not say whether a gun was recovered. The case remained under investigation Thursday afternoon.

Mason served a year in prison in 2003 after being convicted of causing the car crash that killed his best friend , Travis Van Durme, 18, of Norway, a year earlier. He pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.

At the time of the accident, he had a string of citations on his record for driving to endanger – one in 2000, one in 2001 and two in 2002.

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