The Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office executed a high-risk search warrant in Pittston on Wednesday that prompted a school lockdown after authorities discovered an explosive device during a routine Monday traffic stop.
[RELATED: 24-Year-Old Man Arrested After Credible Bomb Threats Against UNE and Bomb Materials Found…]
The Fire Marshal’s Office worked with the Maine State Police Bomb Team to execute a warrant at 158 Wiscasset Road in connection with an investigation that began with a Newcastle traffic stop.
At approximately 2:55 a.m. on Monday, the Lincoln Sheriff’s Department closed down a large section of Main Street in Newcastle after a traffic stop revealed a suspected explosive device.
Shortly after midnight, Lincoln Sheriff’s deputies conducted a routine stop based on a traffic violation. During the stop, they found that the driver was subject to an outstanding arrest warrant and took him into custody.
A search of the suspect’s vehicle allegedly revealed a suspicious device that deputies believed resembled an explosive.
Deputies called the Maine State Police Bomb Team and the Office of the State Fire Marshal to the scene to investigate, and the road was shut down.
Authorities examined and safely removed the device from the vehicle and transported it for laboratory analysis.
The analysis apparently revealed that the device was a real improvised explosive device (IED), because Wednesday’s press release referred to it as an explosive. While the initial press release indicated only a single device, the subsequent release suggested that multiple IEDs were discovered.
After determining that the explosives were real, law enforcement executed the high-risk warrant and arrested Nicholas Presby, 43, of Augusta, who was not a resident of 158 Wicasset Road but was found inside.
Law enforcement took him into custody without incident, and he faces charges of criminal use of explosives, a Class A felony.
During the warrant execution, the nearby Pittston-Randolph Consolidated School went into lockdown as a precaution. The lockdown was lifted after the warrant was executed.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the Fire Marshal did not reveal what the suspect intended to do with the alleged IEDs.
The Maine State Police Tactical Team, Maine State Police Bomb Team, Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, Gardiner Fire & Rescue, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, FBI, and ATF all assisted in the investigation.
This is not the first bomb scare in Maine in recent days. One week before the device was found in Newcastle, Blake Tibbetts, 24, of Cornish, was arrested after making allegedly credible bomb threats against the University of New England.
A search of Tibbetts’ residence revealed what authorities described as “bomb-making materials,” though it is not clear whether he had actually planted any device.
