A 33-year-old Nobleboro man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for the burglary and theft of drugs from a Damariscotta dentist’s office.
Joshua H. Oliver will also have to pay several thousand dollars in victim restitution and participate in substance abuse treatment.
Oliver pleaded guilty to felony burglary and stealing drugs, as well as 10 other charges from a weeklong crime spree, Feb. 13 in Lincoln County Superior Court in Wiscasset.
The spree began in the early hours of Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013. In the next week, Oliver would steal from his ex-girlfriend in a grocery store, burglarize her new boyfriend’s house, steal a boat, use the boat to steal shingles from a Waldoboro lumberyard, capsize the boat, steal a car, lead a sheriff’s deputy on a foot chase, burglarize the dentist’s office and illegally possess oxycodone and a shotgun. He was arrested Sept. 18.
Oliver’s ex-girlfriend spotted Oliver “sneaking around outside her boyfriend’s house at 1 a.m.” Sept. 12 and called 911, according to a statement by Damariscotta Deputy Police Chief Chad Andrews.
Later the same day, Oliver stole a diaper bag from the same woman while she was shopping at Hannaford Supermarket in Damariscotta with their 8-month-old son, according to Andrews.
Oliver emptied the bag of $430 in cash, the woman’s keys and several baby items before discarding the bag on the roof of her vehicle. He slammed his truck door into her car before driving away, causing more than $1,000 in damage.
Oliver subsequently burglarized the boyfriend’s Bristol residence and told the woman about it in a text message.
He also threatened that she would not see their son again and he would “take her boyfriend out,” according to Andrews.
Sometime during the weekend after these events, Oliver stole a skiff and used it to steal 21 square of shingles from Storer Lumber, on the Medomak River in Waldoboro. He intended to sell the shingles.
According to Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Michael Murphy, Oliver made at least two trips across the river. He would set out from a point in Bremen, travel upriver, load the skiff with shingles and drive it back to his truck.
Eventually, on a return trip, “he overloaded it and he flipped it,” Murphy said.
The capsized boat and some shingles were later discovered on the shore near the lumberyard, according to a statement by Detective Sgt. Ronald Rollins, of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Nicole Lynn Anderson, 25, of Augusta, also faces a felony theft charge in the Storer Lumber case. Anderson was Oliver’s getaway driver, according to Murphy.
Sunday morning at about 2:30 a.m., Oliver stole a car in Bremen, then returned the vehicle about 30-45 minutes later, according to a statement by the owner of the car.
Oliver apologized to the man and said he took the car because he had capsized a skiff and needed to change into dry clothes. The man told Oliver the police were en route, and Oliver ran away.
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Beck arrived shortly thereafter and found Oliver on the shore nearby, according to a statement by Beck. Beck pursued Oliver on foot, but Oliver disappeared into the woods.
The next day, more shingles were found at low tide in the area of the foot chase.
Sunday night, Oliver burglarized the Damariscotta office of Dr. Joseph Griffin and stole a lockbox containing the drugs morphine, Percocet, midazolam and triazolam.
The evening of Sept. 18, Jason Pease, of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, conducted a bail check at Oliver’s residence.
Oliver’s bail conditions from a previous arrest did not allow him to possess firearms, and Pease found a shotgun under Oliver’s bed.
A woman Pease identified as Oliver’s girlfriend, Jennifer J. Rosa, 35, of Bremen, arrived during the search and allegedly handed Oliver a pack of cigarettes with oxycodone pills inside.
Pease arrested Oliver for unlawful possession of oxycodone and two counts of violating conditions of release. He was transported to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.
Rosa faces a felony drug-trafficking charge, as well as furnishing and possession charges.
About a month later, a criminal informant told authorities Oliver was responsible for the Damariscotta burglary, according to a statement by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Detective Scott Hayden.
The sheriff’s office recovered the lockbox and charged Oliver with the burglary and theft Oct. 21.
Oliver pleaded guilty to felony burglary, theft and drug possession charges, as well as misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief, domestic violence terrorizing, refusing to submit to arrest, theft, trafficking in tobacco in an adult correctional facility and violating condition of release.
Maine Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm sentenced Oliver to five years in prison with all but 14 months suspended for the felony charges related to the dentist’s office burglary.
Oliver will serve two years of probation after the initial 14-month sentence. If he violates probation, he could return to prison for the rest of the five years.
Hjelm also ordered Oliver to pay the dentist $2,104.62 in restitution and $550 in fines. Oliver’s probation conditions require him to complete substance abuse treatment and comply with random searches and tests for alcohol and drugs.
The conditions also forbid contact with the victims of his crimes.
Oliver received shorter sentences on the other charges, which he will serve concurrently with the longer sentence.
The other charges also come with fines and restitution orders.
He will have to pay $3,065.55 to his ex-girlfriend, $1,742 to Storer Lumber and $240 to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, as well as another $675 in fines, for a total of $8,377.17 in fines and restitution.
Oliver has previous convictions for criminal mischief and terrorizing in 2002, operating under the influence in 2008, unlawful possession of scheduled drugs in 2011 and violating condition of release in 2012.
He is in custody at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.
