Police stand outside a condominium Wednesday night on Indian Ridge Road in Skowhegan. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
SKOWHEGAN — A drug arrest in Skowhegan late Wednesday did not involve three Connecticut suspects linked to a high-speed car chase across central Maine, police said, although the area where the arrest occurred was searched for the fugitives.
The Skowhegan arrest followed a tip and police surveillance of an apartment complex, as police across the region continued their search for the suspects who fled Tuesday night.
Detective Sgt. Kelly Hooper of the Skowhegan Police Department said he has been working the case since Sept. 4, when the suspects in Tuesday night’s car chase were reportedly involved in a gunfire incident last month.
The Maine State Police said they received tips early Wednesday that the suspects might have been at the Indian Ridge Apartments, off West Front Street, so Hooper and another officer set up surveillance.
Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam said later Wednesday a person came out of the apartment building and was identified as a person of interest after officers witnessed suspicious activities in the parking lot.
When approached by Skowhegan police and agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the individual ran over an embankment, but was chased across West Front Street, apprehended and taken to the Somerset County Jail in East Madison.
The man, identified as Aphalo Sullivan, 24, of Dorchester, New Hampshire, was charged with aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs, a Class A felony. Bucknam said Sullivan was found with 133 grams of crack and fentanyl and $1,600 in cash when he was arrested.
“It was found that Aphalo was not connected with the September incident or the high-speed chase in Waterville,” Bucknam said. “The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are pending.”
The State Police tactical team had surrounded the apartments at Indian Ridge, and while a search warrant was obtained for the fugitives, the complex was evacuated.
For hours, a state negotiator attempted to get the occupants of an apartment to come out of the building. After hours of negotiations, occupants Brandon Blodgett, 31, and Jodi Decker, 49, did as requested.
The search warrant was executed on the apartment, but the fugitives were not located. Both Blodgett and Decker were released after police cleared the scene and neither were charged.
Redington-Fairview General Hospital emergency medical services were also at the scene to assist, though the services were not used.
Wanted by police are 32-year-old Christopher Terenc Farrow (Young) and 29-year-old Dayshawn Middleton (also known as Day Day or Christopher Jones), both of Connecticut. Farrow was described by authorities as a Black man, 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, while Middleton was described as a Black man, 6 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.
State Police negotiators talk Wednesday on Indian Ridge Road in Skowhegan. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
Police said there might be a woman with them — Hailey Goeltz, 26, of Connecticut — who was described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall with green eyes.
Authorities said the pursuit started in Waterville on Tuesday night after city police officers tried to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle. Inside the vehicle, they discovered there was a man wanted on charges stemming from a robbery in Connecticut, police said, and the men were also wanted for questioning in connection with a gunfire incident last month in Skowhegan.
The vehicle fled through Waterville and Clinton, and then into Augusta, where it reportedly left Interstate 95 at exit 113.
State troopers joined a pursuit in Augusta when the vehicle drove back onto the highway, heading southbouth in the northbound lanes, with speeds that exceeded 100 mph, approaching the West Gardiner toll booth.
The chase continued south from Interstate 95 to Interstate 295, where the vehicle exited onto state Route 197 in Richmond and then U.S. Route 201 northbound, traveling between 80 mph and 90 mph.
The chase continued until a trooper forced the vehicle off the road in Richmond.
Bucknam said although the incidents in Litchfield led police to Skowhegan, the arrest made was not related and both of the male individuals are still being sought by police.
“(They) should be considered armed and dangerous,” Bucknam said. “We are not sure if he is still in this area right now, but we are being proactive in our patrols.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
