A Hollis man was arrested Feb. 18 for failing to register as a sex offender in Maine.

Forrest Bradbury Jr., 54, was arrested by York County Sheriff’s deputies after investigators determined he was living on Deerwander Lane. Bradbury is a 10-year sex offender registrant in Vermont and also was required to register in Maine, according to police.

Bradbury was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct in 2002 and failure to comply with the sex offender registry in 2009.

Vermont authorities in October determined Bradbury was not living at his registered address in that state. Vermont authorities learned he was working in Boothbay Harbor, and police said they found he was living in Hollis.

The charge of failing to register as a sex offender in Maine is a class D crime. Bradbury was released from York County Jail after posting $5,000 cash bail.

Former priest did not commit canonical crime, court finds

A Catholic church appeal court determined complaints against a former Lyman priest did not rise to the level of a canonical crime.

Father Thomas Lee, who served at St. Philip Parish in Lyman from 1985 to 2003, faced accusations stemming from alleged abuse in the early 1980s, according to Sue Bernard, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

In 2008, a court of first instance determined the reports against Lee did not rise to the level of canonical crime and were not proven. The Diocese of Portland appealed the decision in September 2008 to be certain each piece of evidence was properly presented, Bernard said.

The appeal court determined the decision of the first church tribunal and also agreed that Lee “acted imprudently with minors,” Bernard said. Bishop Richard Malone decided that Lee will not be allowed any regular public ministry in the church.

Lee, 83, has been out of ministry since September 2003.

Domestic violence officers can enforce law statewide

Maine Attorney General William Schneider last week reaffirmed the jurisdiction of 21 domestic violence investigators from departments across the state, including Biddeford Police Department and York County Sheriff’s Office.

This is the fifth year of the program that provides statewide law enforcement powers to domestic violence investigators so their work does not stop at town or county lines. Officers sworn in by Schneider include Ricky Doyon of the Biddeford Police Department and Mathew Nadeau and Wilfred Vachon of the York County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is a very effective way to combat domestic violence that occurs all over the state. By providing statewide arrest authority to these law enforcement investigators we can interrupt domestic violence at an earlier state before is escalates,” Schneider said in a prepared statement. “Every 97 minutes, someone in Maine is the victim of a domestic assault. More than half of the homicides in Maine are cases of domestic violence and as law enforcers we must do everything in our power to stop these inexcusable acts of violence.”

– Compiled by Staff Writer Gillian Graham