A man wanted in Maine on charges related to a gunfire incident last year in Skowhegan was arrested Friday in Vermont, then released and is now considered a fugitive from justice, police say.
Christopher Terenc Farrow
Christopher Farrow, 32, of Connecticut, was arrested last Friday in South Burlington, Vermont, by U.S. Marshals and South Burlington Police after a high-speed chase, according to WCAX-TV in Vermont.
On Thursday, the South Burlington police chief confirmed that Farrow was arrested last week, but posted bail over the weekend and failed to show up at his court appearance Monday.
Chief David Bucknam of the Skowhegan Police Department confirmed Monday that though Farrow was arrested over the weekend in Vermont, he had been released, but was not given any information beyond that. Bucknam posted news of the arrest on the department’s Facebook page.
“In Vermont the state runs the jail system,” said Shawn Burke, chief of police in South Burlington. “So (Farrow) would have been bailed out of the state’s correctional facility. We don’t keep those records or have any visibility on that.”
Burke said that Farrow was arrested Friday and released sometime over the weekend, having posted $75,000 bail via a bondsman. When he didn’t show up at his court appearance scheduled for Monday morning, police filed an affidavit with the courts to issue a warrant for his arrest.
“When our team went to apprehend Farrow, (Farrow and Haley Goetz) fled in the vehicle for about a mile,” Burke said.
Goetz, 26, was operating the vehicle, who was spotted with Farrow in Maine, Burke said.
“(Goetz is) a Vermonter,” Burke said, “and by our rules of arrest, she was issued a citation ordering her to appear in court some time in late April/early May.”
He said that it appeared at the time of the arrest “as though they had been in Vermont for a little bit of time.”
A fugitive from justice, Farrow faces several charges in Maine and Connecticut.
In Connecticut, Farrow is wanted for parole violations, having had his bail set at $250,000, according to police. In Maine, he is out on $100,000 bail.
In Skowhegan, Farrow and Dayshawn Middleton, 29, face charges of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, a Class C offense; aggravated reckless conduct, Class B; aggravated criminal mischief, Class C; and assault, Class D.
“The courts in Vermont cut him loose,” Bucknam said Monday. “I think every law enforcement agency involved with this guy would like to know why.”
On Sept. 4, 2020, Skowhegan police responded to a report of shots fired on Norton Lane. No suspect was arrested and police continued to search for information. Nobody was injured in the gunfire.
On Oct. 6, two men involved in a high-speed chase in the Waterville and Augusta areas were identified as the suspects involved in the Skowhegan shooting.
Both men were considered armed and dangerous, according to police.
The police pursuit began in Waterville at about 10 p.m. after city police officers tried to stop a vehicle carrying a man wanted on charges stemming from a robbery in Connecticut, police said. The men in the car were also wanted for questioning in connection with the gunfire incident in Skowhegan.
During the Oct. 6 chase, the vehicle was driven through Waterville and Clinton, then into Augusta, where it reportedly left Interstate 95 at Exit 113. The chase continued onto State Street and Western Avenue, where speeds reached 80 mph.
Maine State Police joined the pursuit in Augusta when the vehicles got back onto the Interstate, traveling southbound in the northbound lanes at speeds that topped 100 mph near the West Gardiner toll booth.
On Interstate 295, the vehicle exited in Richmond and onto Route 197, then turned onto U.S. Route 201 northbound, traveling between 80 and 90 mph. Police then forced the vehicle off the road, and the suspects took off on foot.
On Oct. 7, Skowhegan police received a tip that the suspects were staying at the Indian Ridge Apartments, off West Front Street in Skowhegan.
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Detective Sgt. Kelly Hooper and another officer set up surveillance at the complex. They later made an arrest of a person other than Farrow and Middleton, who were not found.
Middleton was arrested weeks later in New York.
Burke said Thursday that he had no leads on where Farrow may be or if he is with Goetz.
“I have no visibility on that,” Burke said. “I don’t know where they would go from here.”
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