An Augusta man who allegedly flew off with two birds that weren’t his Tuesday now finds himself in hot water.
Scott J. Libby, a 29-year-old transient from Augusta, told police that he had permission to remove two ceramic geese from the porch of a home on Jefferson Street, according to a complaint filed by Officer Michael Unterkoefler of the Augusta Police Department.
But the owner of those geese disagreed and called police to report the alleged theft. Police arrested Libby, and on Wednesday, he made his first appearance in court via video feed. He has been charged with one count of theft by unauthorized taking and two counts of violating conditions of release.
Police first went to Jefferson Street at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday after a resident complained that a man he did not know — Libby — had reached through an open window into his enclosed porch and taken two ceramic geese, Unterkoefler wrote.
When police located Libby a short time later on Washington Street near St. Augustine Church, he had the ceramic geese and said another Augusta man had given him permission to take them, Unterkoefler wrote. The geese were white, had removable heads and were valued by police at less than $500.
But their owner, Unterkoefler continued, “told me that (Libby) did not have permission to remove items from his porch.”
A judge on Wednesday ordered him held without bail on the motions to revoke bail on the underlying charges and $1,000 cash bail on the new charges.
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney David Spencer, said when the defendant was questioned initially, “he gave some story about being authorized” to take the geese. Spencer told Judge Eric Walker that the new charge could have been brought as a burglary since Spencer reached in to an enclosed porch to take the geese.
Attorney Aaron Blaschke Rowden, lawyer of the day, asked that bail be reviewed once Libby’s attorney gets the case, and Walker agreed.
Staff writer Betty Adams contributed to this report.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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