UNITY — Police didn’t release any additional information Saturday afternoon regarding Friday afternoon’s robbery of the Down East Credit Union branch on School Street.

Waldo County Sheriff Scott Story said the robbery occurred at about 2:33 p.m. when a white male entered the branch office and handed a black bag to a teller. He did not show a weapon.

Police described the robber as approximately 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds. He also sported facial hair, was wearing sunglasses, blue jeans, white shoes and a white hooded sweatshirt with “Montana” on the front and down the left sleeve and “89” on the front.

The Waldo County Sheriff’s Office said the robber fled the credit union on foot, reportedly toward Unity Raceway on Route 139.

Police did not say how much money was stolen.

Maine State Police Trooper Shawn Porter and his dog, Tex, did a track Friday afternoon and state police and Waldo County Sheriff’s deputies searched woods behind the credit union, which is next to Unity Elementary School.

The Waldo County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency; the Maine State Police, Maine Computer Crimes Task Force and Federal Bureau of Investigation are assisting.

Saturday afternoon, Andy Cardinale, a dispatcher at Waldo County Regional Communications Center in Belfast, said police are seeking tips from the public; anyone with information is asked to call the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office at 338-2040 or the Maine State Police at 1-800-452-4664.

The last bank robbery in Unity occurred Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005, at Bangor Savings Bank in Clifford Commons.

To date, no arrests have been made in that case.

In that robbery, a white male wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt or windbreaker entered the bank, showed a weapon and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was injured.

The robber fled in a Geo Metro that had been reported stolen minutes before from a Main Street residence in Unity.

Soon after the robbery, the car was found abandoned on Crosby Brook Road; additional tire tracks were found in the snow near the abandoned car.

Also in 2005, Shawn D. Kivlin, 29, of Unity, showed a gun and butcher knife during a Jan. 21 robbery at Unity Pharmacy.

Kivlin, who wore a scarf over his face and carried a gun underneath a pink cloth, demanded drugs.

But Unity pharmacist Shane Savage filled the prescription bottles with M & Ms, not prescription drugs, then followed Kivlin when he fled.

Savage told police which direction the thief was headed and Maine State Police Detective Scott Bryant chased Kivlin at speeds topping 80 mph.

Kivlin was taken into custody in Appleton after he ran over a spike mat.

Kivlin was later sentenced to 30 years in prison, all but 10 years suspended.

Beth Staples — 861-9252

bstaples@centralmaine.com

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