AUGUSTA — Donald E. Westover Sr. has a habit of writing bad checks for vehicles and service at various dealerships and repair shops across Maine, including Brewer, Litchfield, Rockland and Ellsworth.

And after a number of psychological evaluations that found him competent to enter a plea and criminally responsible for his actions, he pleaded guilty and is now serving 30 months behind bars for those offenses.

Westover, 69, who has used addresses in Augusta, Bangor, Waterville and West Gardiner and now lives in Orrington, pleaded guilty early this week at the Capital Judicial Center to a series of offenses, mostly negotiating a worthless instrument and theft by deception.

The court documents listed the details of those offenses:

• On April 26, 2013, he wrote a bad check for more than $3,000 in Rockland.

• On April 16, 2014, he wrote a $2,894.84 check to BK Auto of Litchfield for automotive parts and services. That resulted in a charge of theft by deception and violation of conditions of release.

• On June 7, 2014, he wrote a check for $6,857 for Art’s Service Center in Brewer. That resulted in charges of negotiating a worthless instrument and theft by deception.

• On Dec. 11, 2014, in Ellsworth, he wrote a bad check for $7,100 to Pray’s Auto Sales for a 1997 Ford 150 pickup. That resulted in charges of negotiating a worthless instrument and theft by deception.

• On Dec. 12, 2014, he wrote a $18,375.12 check drawn on a Bangor Hydro Federal Credit Union account to Darling’s Chevrolet in Ellsworth in exchange for a 2012 Chevrolet Impala. That resulted in charges of negotiating a worthless instrument and theft by deception.

In exchange for the pleas, the prosecutor dismissed a Nov. 27, 2012, charge of theft by deception, in Saco.

Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said Friday that the 30-month imprisonment is a significant sentence for a case involving bad checks, but she said Westover had a number of prior offenses for similar conduct.

“The last time, he received an 18-month sentence; and the time before that, six months,” she said.

The sentence also includes more than $4,600 in restitution to credit unions and others.

Maloney said Westover had been the subject of a competency hearing in October; and after he was found competent to enter a plea, he then underwent an evaluation for criminal responsibility.

Westover was represented at the hearing in Augusta by attorney Dennis Jones.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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