SKOWHEGAN — A resident of a local homeless shelter was arrested Wednesday after allegedly breaking into a church building looking for food to steal, police said.

Dale Pomeroy, 48, is charged with criminal mischief, burglary and theft, stemming from the incident on Tuesday, according to a news release from Skowhegan police Chief Don Bolduc. The case involves the second arrest of a resident at the Trinity Men’s Shelter in the last 10 days after another resident was arrested last week for allegedly sexually assaulting a female family member.

The Rev. Richard Berry, pastor of the shelter and the Trinity Evangelical Free Church, said Wednesday that he was not familiar with Pomeroy, who has previous addresses in Eddington and Massachusetts, according to police.

“We’ve gone a long time with no incidents at all, so this last week was just a bad week, I guess,” Berry said. “The other situation last week, we’d had that guy for a while and I knew him. Everyone was shocked about him.”

Berry said Pomeroy had been staying at the shelter for about a month and had signed out on Tuesday. Residents are allowed to sign out for up to two days per week and still hold their beds, he said.

“He’s never been any trouble, so I didn’t really even know about the guy,” Berry said. “He’d signed out, so he was out on his own at that time.

Advertisement

Around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Skowhegan police received a report of suspicious activity at Tewksbury Hall, an events space behind the Skowhegan Federated Church, at 13 Island Ave. When they arrived, they found the building had been broken into and also found Pomeroy’s wallet inside.

On Wednesday morning, he came to the police station looking for the wallet, according to the news release. While speaking with officers, he admitted having entered the hall to look for food to steal, police said.

Pomeroy later denied remembering all the events of the evening, citing alcohol consumption.

More than $2,000 in damage was found at the hall, including damage to a water pipe that was destroyed and resulted in flooring damage.

Residents at the shelter are provided three meals per day and food is also available when residents are signed out, Berry said.

“He was signed out, but if he was hungry, he could have come over to the shelter and got food so he didn’t have to go without,” he said. “I have no idea what that’s about. All I can tell you is he wasn’t at the shelter that day; he had signed out.”

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.