CASCO — Just before she discovered that a man had broken into her home to dine on her food and take a candlelit bath in her tub on Monday, psychic medium Ann Hall said she had experienced a “spidey sense” about the sordid affair.
Sean Schoonmaker Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office photo
There might be something to that psychic business after all — as it happens, the man accused of breaking into Hall’s Pinkham Road home, 34-year-old Sean Schoonmaker of Norway, was the same man charged in July 2020 with keeping more than 50 spiders and scorpions in a Norway motel room.
In his latest scrape with the law, Schoonmaker was was arrested Monday on charges of burglary, theft and violating a protection order.
Police said that sometime over the weekend, Schoonmaker entered Hall’s home and proceeded to eat her food, rifle through her drawers and treat himself to a candlelit bath in her walk-in tub.
Hall later told a reporter that the intruder had also put his own food in the refrigerator, replaced photos and rearranged items on her mantle.
There were no spiders, anyway.
Last summer, Schoonmaker was in the news after a manager at the Inn Town Motel discovered 53 spiders and scorpions in various containers scattered around a room that Schoonmaker had been renting with his girlfriend for the past 10 days.
The discovery of the tarantulas led to a mad scramble of wildlife officials who came to manage the arachnid affair. Ultimately, the spiders were sent off to animal rehab specialist Drew Desjardins in Lewiston and Schoonmaker was cited for possessing several species that are illegal in Maine.
Of course, Ann Hall knew none of that when she returned home from a Valentine’s Day weekend trip on Monday. Hall said at the time that her “spidey senses” were tingling and sure enough, soon after, she discovered a strange car in her garage.
Hall retreated and called 911 and when five deputies and a police dog got to the scene, they allegedly found Schoonmaker inside Hall’s house, “lounging around and making it his place,” according to Hall.
Schoonmaker was taken to the Cumberland County Jail in Portland after he was arrested in the break-in. He remained there Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear if Schoonmaker, who has a minor criminal record of theft and other charges in the Oxford County area, paid the fines associated with keeping exotic species from the case in July.
An acquaintance of Schoonmaker said he had been homeless for a time, living in a car with his girlfriend, after leaving the motel where the spiders were found. On his Facebook page, Schoonmaker describes himself as a self-employed driver.
The tarantulas and scorpions are still with Desjardins in Lewiston.
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