An Augusta man was arrested Wednesday in Pittston in connection with a traffic stop Monday during which police found suspected explosives, authorities said.
The arrest of Nicholas Presby, 43, also drew a heavy police presence and put the Pittston-Randolph Consolidated School into lockdown, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Around 11:40 a.m., the Maine State Police tactical team assisted the Office of State Fire Marshal in executing an arrest warrant for Presby at 158 Wiscasset Road in Pittston, the department said in a statement issued just before 2 p.m. Wiscasset Road is also Route 27.
Presby was wanted for one Class C count of criminal use of explosives in connection with a traffic stop Monday in Newcastle, the statement said.
Officials said that they believe Presby was an occupant in the vehicle that the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office had stopped early Monday and was at the Wiscasset Road home in Pittston on Wednesday but does not live there.
Route 27 in Pittston was still closed as of 1:50 p.m., the statement said. The fire marshal’s office requested the assistance of the Maine State Police Bomb Team in executing a search warrant of the residence.
Investigators requested the Pittston-Randolph Consolidated School to go into lockdown earlier Wednesday during the execution of the warrant, the Department of Public Safety said. The lockdown was later lifted, and Kennebec County sheriff’s deputies and state fire investigators were at the school during the law enforcement activity.
Along with state police and the fire marshal’s office, Gardiner Fire & Rescue, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were involved in the investigation, authorities said.
In a previous news release, the fire marshal’s office said that Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies stopped a vehicle early Monday morning on Main Street in Newcastle for a traffic violation. The driver was arrested and taken to jail on an outstanding arrest warrant, police said.
While searching the vehicle, the deputies “discovered material that appeared to resemble an explosive device in the vehicle,” the fire marshal’s office said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Maine State Police Bomb Team and the Office of State Fire Marshal were called to the scene to examine the item in question,” the office said in the previous statement. “The device was secured and removed for further evaluation to include a laboratory analysis.”
Officials have not yet released the driver’s name; they referred to Presby on Wednesday as an occupant of the vehicle.
