Investigator and corrections officer honored for bravery

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — A Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department investigator and corrections officer were praised by Chief Deputy Robert Young at last week’s county commissioners meeting for intervening in two incidents that could have had tragic consequences.

    Young told commissioners that due to Investigator Dave Wilson’s hunch that something wasn’t right about a Nov. 25 traffic stop in Bowerbank, he discovered a woman who had been kidnapped and held against her will in a remote camp in the area. “I recently reviewed this case (and) your astute reading of circumstances that appeared to be normal and your dogged efforts in following your honed instincts resulted in her rescue,” Young wrote in the department’s citation. “We may very well have been looking at a homicide had you not correctly read the situation for what it was and pursued this investigation with such tenacity and vigor.”
    Michael Thibodeau, 37, from Hampden was arrested and charged with kidnapping, domestic violence assault and criminal threatening, according to Young. “It started off as a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, but things went downhill fast,” said the chief deputy. “He assaulted her numerous times at the camp.” Thibodeau is free on bail and his trial date has not been set yet.
    Wilson first worked for the sheriff’s department in 2007, but left for a position with the Dover-Foxcroft Police Department and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. He returned to the department last year.
    On Dec. 28, corrections officer Josh McGuire was on duty when an inmate injured himself by banging his head off a cell door “multiple times resulting in serious bleeding,” Young said. A medical provider bandaged the inmate’s head and used a pair of scissors in the process. But the inmate was able to grab the scissors and attempted to flee with the intent of committing suicide, according to Young.
    “You realized what was taking place; and without hesitation, chased, tackled and then wrestled the scissors away from the inmate,” Young wrote. “Your actions on that date prevented a standoff or hostage situation that surely could have resulted in serious injury or death; and in the least, would have created a serious jail incident.”
    Young also announced that Sgt. Tom Harvey, who wears a “lot of hats” in the Sheriff’s Department, will be leaving on or about July 4. “We’re working with Marilyn (Tourtelotte) and within the department for a smooth transition,” Young said.
    Harvey is a supervisor in the regional communications center and serves as the in-house IT director.