UPDATE: Teens ID’d in loader spree, next hearing dates set

LISBON — There is no question that the 14-year-old boys involved in the Sept. 12 joyride in a bucket loader between West Gardiner and New Gloucester have a debt of justice to pay, according to one of their fathers.

But they are not the only ones to blame, he said.

“I will not promote or approve what he did,” the father said. “I don’t agree with any of it. What he did destroyed a lot of things, could have destroyed people’s lives and could have destroyed his own life. Obviously, he needs to be held accountable. But more than these two 14-year-olds need to be accountable. I think there’s a lot of people that need to be held accountable.”

That includes people from the boy’s past and the residential home he escaped from.

“They should have a more updated security system,” he said. “That’s one thing.”

The boy’s father and mother spoke to the Sun Journal last week on the condition that neither their names nor their son’s name would be used in the story. The boy’s name has since become public through the court system and he is scheduled to appear before a judge Tuesday.

“I know he’s been capable of stuff, but nothing to this extreme,” the father said.

“He knows he could have been killed, but he’s still struggling with it,” the father said. “I’m not sure he fully understands the extent, but I’m not sure the people he is communicating with have told him everything that happened.”

The father, who adopted his son when he was 9, alleges a series of abuses beginning when he was 3 put the boy on a bad path. As a result, the boy has severe anger issues and no trust in authority figures.

His mother said the boy has been diagnosed with depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and a mood disorder.

He has been in residential care services since he was 10, the father said.

“He had a lot of built-up anger and aggression, and it got to the point where he could not be home,” the father said. “I have a daughter, too, and it was suggested he go into a residential program to get counseling and therapeutic help.”

The boy had been staying in a Litchfield-based residential treatment facility for adolescent boys for several months but has stayed in other residential homes before.

“Because of the extent of what has happened to him, he feels more safe in a secure, locked-down place,” the father said. 

This facility was not secure enough, he said. Both boys were able to slip out of the center undetected sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning.

The father said he does not know the other boy involved in the escapade.

The residential facility needs to accept some responsibility, he said.

“How the heck did two 14-year-olds get out of a building unnoticed for X-amount of minutes?” the father asked. “If I’m watching a family member’s kid and I’m in charge of that kid, it is my responsibility to know where he or she is at, at all times. That goes with any residential group home. These kids should be monitored 24/7.”

He has talked to his son very rarely since the incident. He said the boy claims he never intended to hurt anyone or cause any damage but didn’t know how to operate the loader.

That does not let him off the hook, according to his father.

“Right now, he is looking at (many) different charges,” the father said. “I would guess the damages are around $150,000. Right now, though, we have to deal with his situation and take it from there.”

The owner of the residential care facility did not return multiple phone messages from the Sun Journal.

staylor@sunjournal.com