A truck stolen from the Friendship (Me.) Trap Company found abandoned in Bristol Monday may be linked to the escape of an inmate from a Warren correctional facility.
Mark Wadsworth, the production manager for the trap company, said the inmate, Clifford, Perkins, 26, Old Orchard Beach, once worked for the trap company as part of a corrections work program.
“He was a good worker. I thought, I hoped he would turn his life around,” said Wadsworth.
Perkins worked for the trap company from April 2007 to January 2008 when he was released, Wadsworth said. He was later arrested for burglary and sent back to the minimum-security prison. He was last seen around 9 p.m. Saturday at the facility.
On Saturday evening, Wadsworth said police tracking dogs followed the escapee’s trail the seven miles from the Bolduc Correctional Facility in nearby Warren, to the Friendship Trap Company.
On Monday, Wadsworth said he came to work and found a diesel pick up truck missing and another truck damaged by someone who tried to start it.
Hunter Ryan Cox, looking for a deer in the woods not far from Huntoon Hill in Bristol, said he found the truck abandoned on an access road sometime near noon Monday afternoon. Cox said he called the trap company and reported the vehicle was found.
“He called us and we called state police,” said Wadsworth.
State police Sgt. Jeremy Westrock declined to confirm the Friendship truck is linked to the escapee, however he said police triggered a “full response” to the stolen truck, including at least one K-9 unit in an attempt to track the driver.
Attempts to lift fingerprints from the truck were unsuccessful but evidence technicians did recover what they believe to be DNA samples, which are being tested at the State Police Crime lab in Augusta, police said.
On Monday evening, trap company workers were called to Bristol to take their truck back.
“It was out of diesel fuel, but it has dual tanks. All he had to do was to switch the tanks and he would have had another tank of fuel,” said Wadsworth.
Police are urging local residents to use appropriate caution and keep their vehicles locked and the keys to any vehicles secured.