UNION, Maine -- A 31-year-old Waldoboro man is behind bars after police said he attempted to rob a bank but arrived just after it had closed.
Joseph M. Lewis was charged with attempted robbery and taken to the Knox County Jail in Rockland, according to a news release from the Knox County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office reported that at approximately 3 p.m., Knox County deputies were dispatched to the Damariscotta Bank & Trust in Union for a suspicious male who had just approached the front door wearing a ski mask. When the man attempted to open the door he found that it was locked.
The doors get locked by bank personnel as the lobby closes at 3 p.m.
Witnesses stated the man went back to his car and left. The car was described as silver with a cardboard license plate. Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies and troopers from the Maine State Police went to the area.
Within minutes of the call, Deputy Jeremy Joslyn stopped a vehicle fitting the description near Camden National Bank at the Common in Union.
Found beside Lewis in the car was the ski mask believed to have been used, according to the sheriff's office. After talking to Lewis, police reported that he was planning to rob the bank until he found out that the doors were locked..
Chief Deputy Tim Carroll said Thursday afternoon that Lewis has no criminal record that they have found. He was being processed at the jail at 5:30 p.m. and bail had not been set.
No weapon was found in the vehicle, Carroll said.
Copyright 2013 - Bangor Daily News, Maine
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
