FARMINGTON — A Litchfield man is accused of stealing a shotgun and a log truck, and breaking into a camp in northern Franklin County between Monday night and early Tuesday.

Jacob Mason Franklin County Detention Center

Jacob K. Mason, 20, was arrested on several charges Tuesday in Stetsontown Township by Cpl. Jonathan Russell of the Maine State Police.

Before Mason’s court appearance Thursday, the Franklin County District Attorney’s Office brought charges of burglary, theft of a firearm, aggravated criminal mischief, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, theft and violation of condition of release.

Russell responded Tuesday at 7:10 a.m. to a report of a vehicle off Kennebago River Road in Lower Cupsuptic Township in Oxford County. He met with a person who told him the pickup truck that was stuck was taken without permission by one of his helpers at Grant’s Kennebago Camps in Stetsontown Township in Franklin County, according to Russell’s affidavit filed in a Farmington court.

Russell also met with a second person who works at a log yard on Kennebageo River Road in Davis Township, about 3.2 miles north from where the pickup truck was stuck. The person told Russell it appeared whoever got the pickup truck stuck had taken a log truck from the log yard and broken the drive shaft off after getting it stuck. Russell continued driving north and saw the log truck stuck in the ditch with its drive shaft visibly sheared off and hanging from the vehicle.

While Russell was there, a pickup truck arrived and the driver told him the person responsible was in the back of the pickup.

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Mason got out of the truck and told Russell he took the pickup truck from Grant’s camps the previous evening, according to the affidavit. He also told Russell he had been driving around Kennebago River Road “drinking alcohol and having a good time.” Mason took the log truck to attempt to get the pickup truck unstuck but the log truck got stuck and damaged, he told Russell.

When Russell asked him if he had entered any camps, Mason told him he entered one camp, drank beer, and took a shotgun and beer from the camp before he continued walking back to Grant’s, the affidavit said. Mason directed Russell to the camp, which Mason had entered by removing a screen, on Kennebago River Road in Stetsontown Township. A  shotgun and a backpack were recovered in a vehicle at Grant’s where Mason put them. The pack contained three sets of binoculars, several unopened, still-cold beers, loose change and fireworks, according to the affidavit.

A judge set Mason’s bail Thursday at $500 or personal recognizance and a supervised release agreement, a corrections officer at the Franklin County jail said. Mason had been held in lieu of $10,000 bail after he was arrested. He remained at the jail Thursday afternoon.

A conviction for burglary and theft of firearm each carry a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. A conviction for aggravated criminal mischief is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Convictions on the other charges range from a maximum 364 days in prison and a fine of up to $2,000, and a maximum of six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.


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