Driver who hit and killed 2 people in East Waterboro had previous crashes

The driver who struck and killed two people when his vehicle went off the roadway this weekend in East Waterboro has multiple driving violations spanning two decades and three states, including a similar crash nearby in 2013 in which no one was injured and he left the scene before police discovered the wreck.

Charles B. Stoddard, 64, of Waterboro, was presumed by police to be driving a 2003 Saturn registered in his name on a September night 2013 when he crossed the center line along Roberts Ridge Road in Waterboro, veered across the oncoming lane of traffic and went off the shoulder into some brush and small trees, according to a crash report.

Whoever was driving the vehicle moved it about 400 feet into a driveway and fled before police could arrive, and Stoddard was eventually held responsible for failing to report it, according to a 10-year driving history provided by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

That crash nearly eight years ago occurred less than half a mile from the Cozi Corner Cafe on Sokokis Trail, the site of the double fatality Saturday when police say Stoddard’s 2003 Oldsmobile left the roadway, impacted the restaurant’s marquee sign and struck and killed Mark Schepis, 45, and Luke Stephenson, 12, both of Waterboro, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the crash.

Schepis and Stephenson were pronounced dead at the scene. They knew each other and had been waiting outside the restaurant with their families. Stoddard’s vehicle also struck a Ford F-150 driven and owned by Mark Tuttle of Porter, who was not injured, the sheriff’s office said. Emergency workers took Stoddard to Southern Maine Health Care Center in Biddeford where he was treated and released. No charges have been filed against him.

Stoddard was involved in a minor incident in 2017 in which his car slid off a snowy road, causing minor damage to an oncoming vehicle. He has had no crashes or tickets since then, according to the driving history information.

A message left at a number listed for Stoddard went unreturned.

Stoddard’s driving record includes multiple violations from three states dating back more than two decades, with the 2013 crash and the 2014 administrative sanction for failing to report a crash being the most recent.

In 1999, Stoddard was charged with OUI and careless driving in Florida, and his license was revoked between 2000 and 2003 because of the arrest. He was also cited in Arizona for driving with a suspended license after the OUI charge and for failing to pay fines and fees. In 2002 he was convicted in Florida of driving with a canceled license.

Stoddard also has a criminal record dating to 1992, but none of his convictions involved vehicles or driving. His most recent conviction, in 2011, was for misdemeanor drug possession.

Saco and Old Orchard Beach police are helping the sheriff’s office reconstruct the fatal crash. It’s unknown if the sheriff’s department took a blood sample from Stoddard after the wreck, as is standard statewide for any driver involved in a fatality. Sheriff William King Jr. declined to answer questions about the crash Monday.

Stephenson’s mother, reached at a home in Waterboro Monday, declined to comment.

Mark Schepis Photo courtesy of the Schepis family

Schepis was well known in York County, friends said.

His cousin Jessica Charland of Scarborough and daughter Elizabeth spoke about his life and accomplishments during a telephone interview Sunday night.

They said Schepis loved his line of work and commuted each day from his home in Waterboro to his job as director of support operations for Bottomline Technologies in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he had worked for more than 20 years. Bottomline provides payment, invoice and document automation solutions to institutions around the world.

Charland said that Schepis and his wife, Jessica, went to the restaurant on Saturday to meet friends for breakfast. Schepis was sitting on a curb with Stephenson when Stoddard’s car entered the parking lot, Charland said.

His daughter Elizabeth, 22, said her father coached youth baseball teams and was an unofficial “cheer dad,” a supportive role he embraced during her years as a cheerleader at Massabesic High School in Waterboro. Her brother, Alex, played baseball for Massabesic.

She said her father was a kind, supportive parent who liked to have fun. The family made an effort each year to travel to Disney World in Florida, a trip that Schepis enjoyed coordinating.

A post on Facebook by the Cozi Corner staff said the restaurant will be closed until Wednesday. By Monday, friends and relatives made a memorial of flowers, placed at the base of the damaged marquee sign near where they had been sitting when the crash took place.