Offender in custody, accused after pursuit
Toolbox
By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: September 3, 2009
HARTLAND — A Chittenden County man sentenced in January for possessing stolen property from a Windsor County woman is in custody after allegedly leading police on a high-speed chase early Wednesday morning.
Kenneth J. Maskell, 31, is behind bars in Springfield prison on charges of operating a vehicle without the owner's consent, gross negligent operation, attempting to elude and petty larceny after police captured him near the Post Office in North Hartland.
Around 3:35 a.m., the Berlin Police Department issued a call to be on the lookout for a dark-colored SUV with Vermont plates. Berlin Police had last seen the vehicle traveling south near exit 2 on Interstate 89.
Shortly after 4 a.m., Hartford Police found the vehicle traveling east on Route 14 and engaged in a nearly four-mile pursuit before the driver, later identified as Maskell, abandoned the vehicle by a ravine on the north side of the Ottauquechee River and fled on foot, police said.
Officers from Lebanon, N.H., joined Hartford Police in the foot pursuit, and state police, accompanied by a police dog, took Maskell into custody, police said.
These new charges come after Maskell's sentence in January in White River Junction District Court on charges of possession of stolen property. In August 2008, Maskell was found in possession of a bag of jewelry supplies valued at $6,720 that been stolen from an unlocked car in Quechee.
Maskell had seven prior felony convictions between 1995 and 2003 — including three for escape, two for burglary, and one each for grand larceny and possession of stolen property — and Maskell was originally looking at an enhanced penalty of up to life in prison.
Instead, Maskell pleaded guilty in January and received a sentence of at least three months to a little more than 20 years to serve, and was released on furlough May 4, said Deborah Thibault, district manager for the Burlington Probation and Parole Office.
Maskell, who was living in Burlington prior to his most recent conviction and most recently in Winooski, failed to check in with his parole officer Monday, and Tuesday the state Department of Corrections placed him on escape status, Thibault said.
Thibault said Maskell will stay in jail until his newest charges are resolved.
"My guess is he will get longer than a three-month minimum this time," she said.
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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