LIVERMORE FALLS — A local man was arrested Sunday night on charges he stole a truck, escaped police custody and violated conditions of bail.
Joshua Souther, 46, was taken into custody after he was found hiding in a bedroom of his home at 580 Park St. by police executing search and arrest warrants, Police Chief Abe Haroon said Monday.
Joshua Souther Androscoggin County Jail photo
He is accused of stealing a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 truck May 21. Two days later he was stopped on Park Street by Officer Michael Adcock in the truck with a trailer that had no rear plate. The signature on the bill of sale Souther showed and that of the owner of the stolen vehicle report did not match, so he was arrested on a charge of receiving stolen property, handcuffed and put in the back seat of the police cruiser, Haroon said.
When Adcock stopped at the police station to retrieve paperwork, he came out to find Souther was gone, apparently having escaped through a window. A two-hour search by police from six agencies failed to find him. When they reached him by phone, Souther said he would turn himself in but didn’t, the chief said.
On June 4, Officer Trevor Gagnon saw Souther leaving his home in a vehicle and stopped him to serve an arrest warrant, but Souther drove off nearly hitting Gagnon, a vehicle and a flagger in a road construction zone. He did a U-turn and returned to his home, abandoned the truck and trailer at the back of his property and ran into the woods, where police could not find him, Haroon said.
Souther was charged in the June 4 traffic stop with refusing to submit to arrest, failure to stop for an officer, driving to endanger, violation condition of release and displaying a fictitious sticker.
Souther remained at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn on Monday on $2,000 bail for each charge, a corrections officer said.
Penalties for convictions of the charges range from up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000 fine to up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
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