Somerset County sheriff’s officials had a busy weekend responding to serious vehicle accidents in Palmyra and Hartland and arresting people in Skowhegan and Norridgewock on drug-related charges.

Four Connecticut men were arrested Sunday morning in Norridgewock and charged with conspiracy to commit burglary after the Sheriff’s Department received a report at 9:23 a.m. of suspicious people on Route 139, also known as Waterville Road, according to a news release from Detective Lt. Carl E. Gottardi II.

Deputy Dave Cole, Cpl. Michael Ross and Fairfield police Officer Shana Blodgett went to the area. Cole found two men walking on Route 139 and Blodgett found a 2010 Toyota Corolla with two men inside, according to the release. The men who were walking had been inside that car earlier, the release says.

Officials determined the men had driven to Maine to rob a home that reportedly had marijuana plants growing inside, according to the release. Officials seized tools from the car that allegedly were to be used in the robbery.

Arrested were Jeremiah S. Samela, 23, of Bristol, Conn., and Michael A. Damato, 20, Anthony Niklewski, 21, and Kenneth Niklewski, 24, all of Torrington, Conn.

In Skowhegan around 3 p.m. Saturday, sheriff’s officials searched a man and a vehicle in the municipal parking lot downtown, seizing Suboxone strips, more than $1,200 in cash, drug-related paraphernalia and a 2003 Mercury Sable car, according to Gottardi.

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Scott Jones, 46, of Skowhegan, was arrested and charged with illegal possession of drugs and violation of conditions of release. At the time, he was out on bail on unrelated, nondrug charges. More charges may be forthcoming against Jones and others once the case is reviewed by the District Attorney’s Office, according to Gottardi.

“This case, along with other recent cases, has been an ongoing investigation into illicit drug trafficking activities in Somerset County,” his release says. “The arrest and investigation into Jones’ alleged illicit drug activities is believed to be connected to Terrance Allen of New York, who was arrested Oct. 23 for trafficking in Oxycodone.”

Also Saturday, around 7:50 p.m., sheriff’s Cpl. Ritchie Putnam responded to a report of a vehicle rollover, with entrapment, on Route 43, also known as Athens Road, in Hartland, Gottardi said. The Hartland Fire Department and Sebasticook Valley Ambulance also responded.

Keith Miller-Grant, 30, of Solon, had been driving west in a 1994 Lincoln Continental that was traveling too fast and approached a curve in the road, causing the car to leave the road, according to Gottardi. It struck several trees and rolled over onto its roof.

Miller-Grant was trapped in the car for about an hour before being freed by Hartland firefighters and taken to Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield.

“It appeared Miller-Grant may have sustained a broken leg,” Gottardi’s release says.

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The Lincoln was destroyed in the accident, it says.

“It appears that speed and alcohol may have been factors in this accident, which is still under investigation.”

Around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Jackson responded to a vehicle accident on Main Street in Palmyra.

Derek Cronkite, 21, of Skowhegan, was driving west in a 2000 Monte Carlo when the car went off the left side of the road and struck a mailbox, according to Gottardi’s release.

Cronkite apparently overcorrected, and the car went off the right side of the road, struck a utility pole guide wire, rolled over twice and landed on its roof, in the trees, the release says. The car was destroyed, it says.

Cronkite, who suffered possible head injuries, as well as bruises to his hands and arms, was taken to Sebasticook Valley Hospital.

Pittsfield police and firefighters assisted at the scene. The release says speed and alcohol may have been factors in the accident.


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