MADAWASKA, Maine — The local police has posted a warning on Facebook about a registered sex offender who has had three run-ins with police during the short time he has lived in town.
“The police department does feel obligated to notify members of our community concerning an individual who recently moved into our municipality,” Madawaska Police Chief Ross Dubois wrote on the department’s Facebook page on Aug. 14.
“William Maith recently moved to Madawaska from Baltimore, Maryland,” continued Dubois in the post. “Maith has an extensive criminal record in Maryland involving sexual assaults. Maith has had to register with the Maine Sex Offender Registry and is a lifetime registrant.
“In the short amount of time Maith has resided here, he has had several contacts with our police department. Maith is currently scheduled to appear in the Madawaska District Court on September 6 for several charges.”
When contacted later by phone, Dubois said he was reluctant to post the information on the department’s Facebook page, especially since the subject, William Alexander Maith, has not appeared in court yet on any of the three crimes with which he has been charged.
“It borders on public shaming,” Dubois said.. “Even if these people are not convicted, there is still this electronic record around.”
But out of an abundance of caution and to stifle rumors he had begun hearing regarding the individual, Dubois said he went ahead with the post.
According to information on the state’s sex offender registry website, which Dubois also linked to in his Facebook post, Maith was convicted in 2009 in a Baltimore courtroom for “Sex Offense-2nd Degree.”
Dubois would not release more specific information about the crimes in Maryland, but said Maith’s criminal record there includes several charges of sexual and physical assault.
The police chief said another reason for posting a public alert on his department’s Facebook page was to let people know that Maith is not the man who has recently been “panhandling” in front of local stores and other locations, with whom local police have had no run-ins. Both Maith and the other individual, who Dubois declined to name, are African American.
“I didn’t want this other guy to be ostracized,” Dubois said. “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Dubois said Monday that Maith, 31, moved into the Madawaska area in mid to late June and that he did register at the Madawaska police station as Maine’s sex offender law requires.
The chief said he doesn’t know why Maith moved to town, but said he is unemployed and living on Supplemental Security Income.
Dubois said that Maith may have mental problems. His department conducted a thorough background check, the chief said, including contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation and found that Maith has no outstanding warrants.
Since he moved to town, however, Maith has had several encounters with police that have led to his being charged on three separate occasions.
Police charged him with assault in connection with an alleged physical altercation with a woman in front of a business. The woman was not injured.
Officers also charged Maith with disorderly conduct stemming from an incident in which he allegedly made “lewd comments” in public.
Then Maith was summoned on a violation of a town ordinance that prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 750 feet of a public school, in this case the Madawaska Middle/High School.
Madawaska police initially gave Maith a verbal warning of the ordinance violation, which then was followed by a written warning, the chief said. After Maith refused to voluntarily comply, Dubois had officers summon Maith.
Dubois said neither state law nor town ordinances compel landlords to evict sex offenders who reside within exclusion zones and that, as far as he knew, Maith was still living downtown until some resolution of the case.
Maith is scheduled to appear on Sept. 6 in Madawaska District Court to answer to all three charges.
