AUGUSTA — City police are looking for a Fayette man who bailed from jail early Thanksgiving morning after falsely giving the name of a relative.
According to the police log from Nov. 26, Augusta police thought they arrested a man named Justin Goucher, 30, of Fayette, on charges of unlawful possession of fentanyl powder greater than 0.2 grams, and sale and use of drug paraphernalia. According to Augusta police Sgt. Jesse Brann, the man bailed from jail Friday and has been free since then.
On Friday, however, Goucher came to the police after seeing his name reported in the newspaper to tell them he had not been arrested.
That development led to police identifying Jason Hewett, 35, of Fayette, who had given the name of Goucher, one of his relatives. Since then, a warrant is out for Hewett’s arrest, but police have not been able to locate him.
In addition to the drug charges from Thursday, Hewett faces charges of aggravated forgery, failure to provide correct name, date of birth and address, and violating a condition of release, as he was already out on bail.
The Kennebec Journal reported Goucher was arrested in its Nov. 26 police log based on information provided by Augusta police.
Brann said police have tapped other departments to assist in the search of Hewett, including the Gardiner Police Department. He said he has personally experienced an arrest where a person gave a false name.
“It’s happened to me before when I worked patrol,” he said. “It’s not a weekly occurrence, but people giving us false names … happens a lot.”
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