WATERVILLE (AP) — A key witness in the trial of a man convicted of burning down a Vassalboro coffee shop that employed topless servers has attempted suicide while in jail.

Police say 26-year-old Thomas Mulkern of Gardiner was arrested Tuesday and charged with stealing money from a home. He was arrested wearing hospital scrubs because he had been admitted to a hospital the previous night on suspicion of being under the influence of the drug known as bath salts.

The Bangor Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/xEZCCI ) Mulkern was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center after he used a twisted bedsheet to choke himself on Thursday.

Mulkern was a key prosecution witness during the trial of 50-year-old Raymond Bellavance of Winthrop. He was convicted of arson in the June 3, 2009, coffee shop fire.