A Wales man seemed to be shocked when he saw a state trooper watch him climb a utility pole near his home Thursday morning. Luckily, the charges he got were from the police and not the power lines that, police say, he illegally connected to his home.

State police received a tip that Nicholas Gagne, 36, of 237 Oak Hill Road, had reconnected power cables from the pole to his Oak Hill Road home after CMP disconnected similar cables in January. 

On Thursday morning, state police watched the Gagne residence, and a trooper saw Gagne climbing the pole holding a CMP transformer that had an unauthorized connection to Gagne’s home, police said.

When Gagne saw the trooper, Gagne came down from the pole and fled to an outbuilding on the property, police said. He eventually came out and was arrested on a charge of violating bail conditions related to his January arrest and for new theft and criminal mischief charges.

CMP was called to the site to confirm the unauthorized connection, police said.

In January, CMP disconnected service to Gagne’s residence a third time and Gagne was arrested on a charge of theft of services. 

“The investigation revealed that Gagne was climbing up the power pole outside of his house and connecting what amounted to jumper cable clamps to the transformer and then running a power line to the ground and then to his house,” according to Maine State Police.

Gagne was being held without bail at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.

Police say Nicholas Gagne was caught again Thursday using cables to divert electricity from a transformer to his Wales home. Gagne was charged in January with theft of services for doing the same thing.