Brett Currie of Hodgdon was arrested shortly after the 3:24 a.m. incident at the Military Street church after Officer Matt Quint found him sitting in his pickup near the damaged statue, according to Houlton Police Department Interim Chief Daniel Pelletier.
“The officer observed a man sitting in a 2009 GMC pickup when he saw that there was damage to both the vehicle and the statue,” Pelletier said. “The conversation with the man led [Quint] to believe that the man was responsible for it, and further conversation led to the man admitting it.”
Damage to the statue was estimated at $2,500.
When asked whether Currie might also be charged with a hate crime, Pelletier only said that the investigation is ongoing.
Deacon Al Burleigh of St. Mary of the Visitation Church said that the statue of Mary and Saint Elizabeth had been purchased after a church fundraiser about 15 years ago. He said that the maintenance man told him a truck had been backed into the base and up against the statue, which damaged the base significantly but did little damage to the statue itself.
“The base is the part that needs the extensive repair work,” he said. “I think it can be repaired. The statue escaped with just a few knicks, luckily.”
To reach the statue, Currie had to drive up a circular driveway, over a curb, across a lawn and through a perennial garden to hit the base.
The statue, which has been removed pending repairs, is very significant to the congregation, Burleigh said, because it represents biblical stories told in Luke chapters 1:5-25 and 1:57-66, in which Elizabeth gives birth to John the Baptist and shelters Mary, the future mother of Jesus.
He said the church is getting estimates regarding the repair work.
Burleigh also said that the congregation intends to “pray for the man who hit the statue.”
Aroostook County Sheriff Darrell Crandall confirmed that Currie was taken to the jail after his arrest and was in custody Oct. 3. He was arraigned in Houlton District Court via video, where a judge set bail at $500 cash with conditions that he not return to St. Mary of The Visitation Church.
