A Friendship woman was convicted of a felony related to the theft of ice cream and whipped cream from the Waldoboro Hannaford, while unrelated robbery and burglary charges against her were dismissed because the alleged victims planned to plead the fifth.
Karrie Prior, 24, pleaded guilty to a class C felony theft charge in Lincoln County Superior Court Feb. 26, stemming from her role in the theft of ice cream and whipped cream from the Waldoboro Hannaford last September.
The charge was a felony due to Prior having two previous theft convictions, according to court documents.
Prior’s previous theft convictions include the theft of a $8.69 bag of pipe tobacco from the Waldoboro Cigaret Shopper in June 2014 and a theft from Walmart in Thomaston in December 2013, according to court documents.
Prior was sentenced to six months in jail for the Hannaford theft, and a related violation of condition of release charge against her was dismissed.
Several charges in a major robbery case against Prior were dismissed because the alleged victims, brothers Herman Hoffman, 40, of South Thomaston, and Michael Hoffman, 38, of Jefferson, planned to assert their fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination, according to Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright.
Prior was alleged to have both burglarized and robbed Herman’s business, Hoffman Collectibles (then located in Waldoboro), the night of Feb. 15, 2014.
Prior allegedly stole 180 “Johnny Bravo” pills (bath salts) and an undisclosed amount of money during two trips into the store that night, according to court documents and police statements made soon after the events.
Law enforcement responded to the reported burglary and found the store vacant. As they searched the area, store employee Michael Hoffman arrived and allegedly saw Prior escaping out of the business’s front door, he said at the time.
Hoffman told The Lincoln County News he pursued Prior to her vehicle, and as he attempted to grab the keys from her through the vehicle window, she allegedly drove the vehicle out onto Route 1, dragging and injuring him in the process.
As a result, Hoffman said he bruised his leg, ribs, and back, and tore at least one to two layers of his right bicep off the bone.
Prior was charged with two counts of robbery (class A and B), two counts of burglary (class C), criminal mischief (class D), theft by unauthorized taking (class E), driving to endanger (class E), and violation of condition of release (class E) – all of which were dismissed Feb. 26.
With the Hoffman brothers planning to assert their 5th amendment rights, “there’s no way I can prove the case” against Prior, Wright said Feb. 27.
For the burglary charge, Wright said he would need the Hoffmans to testify they had not given Prior permission to enter the store; likewise he would need Michael Hoffman to testify that he did not acquiesce to being dragged by Prior’s vehicle.
“I have her admissions that she did these things,” Wright said, “but without the corpus, without the actual bulk of the crime besides her admissions – I can’t prove it on her admissions without evidence.”
Calls to Prior’s attorney, Jonathan Handelman, were not returned by press time.
Herman Hoffman’s attorney, Justin Andrus, confirmed he recommended his client not testify in Prior’s trial.
“Because he has other charges pending, I thought it would be appropriate for him to decline to testify in this matter,” Andrus said.
Jeremy Pratt, Michael Hoffman’s attorney, also confirmed his client’s intentions not to testify in the robbery case.
Wright speculated that the Hoffmans’ decisions regarding testifying against Prior relate to pending drug trafficking charges against the two men.
“I think that there’s information having to do with the robbery that would be directly related to the charges against them right now,” Wright said.
Pratt said the reason for his client’s intent not to testify stems from the state’s (collectively the attorney general’s office, which is prosecuting the Hoffmans, and the Lincoln County District Attorney’s office) decision to prioritize “a bogus drug case” over a robbery.
“We’re not going to help the state prosecute a robbery case if they’re going to after my client, Michael Hoffman, on a bogus drug case,” Pratt said March 3.
The Hoffman brothers were arrested in July 2014 after Maine Drug Enforcement agents executed search warrants at Herman Hoffman’s South Thomaston home and at Hoffman Collectibles in Waldoboro, according to an MDEA press release.
From the two locations, agents seized 500 capsules of APVP bath salts, three handguns, seven Maine electronic benefits transfer cards, and $25,000 in alleged drug proceeds, according to the release.
Court documents allege Michael Hoffman was selling the bath salts under the “Johnny Bravo” label at the Waldoboro store.
Michael Hoffman was indicted in September 2014 on charges of unlawful trafficking in schedule W drugs (class B and D) and unlawful possession of schedule W drugs (class D).
Herman Hoffman was indicted in September 2014 on charges of aggravated trafficking in schedule W drugs (class A), unlawful trafficking in schedule W drugs (class B), unlawful possession of schedule W drugs (class D), and misuse of public benefits instrument.