AUBURN — A judge is expected to decide on Tuesday if Charles “Scooter” Epps, 33, of Lewiston should remain in jail pending a hearing on whether he violated his terms of probation.
Epps, a career criminal who is the stepfather of a juvenile charged with arson in three downtown fires last spring and reportedly the supplier of materials used to bind the dead body of a murder victim around the same time, was the subject of a Sun Journal profile more than a week ago.
According to court records, Epps failed several drug tests while free on probation under the supervision of Maine Pretrial Services and Probation. He was arrested last week and charged with violating terms of probation and has since been held without bail in the Androscoggin County Jail.
According to an affidavit written by Robert Omiecinski, a state probation officer, Epps had been released on June 21 under Maine pretrial supervision with conditions that included no possession of BB guns or illegal drugs and that he abide by a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
On July 30, Epps admitted using heroin and Suboxone (for which he has no prescription). He tested positive in a drug test for Suboxone, Omiecinski’s affidavit said.
Epps reportedly violated his 9 p.m. curfew on July 31 by failing to return to his home at 190 Bartlett St., Omiecinski wrote.
On Aug. 8, Epps reportedly told his probation officer that he had used heroin over the weekend. He tested positive for heroin and cocaine, but denied having used cocaine.
Five days later, Epps carried a black duffel bag that contained two Airsoft guns that shoot plastic BBs but look like real guns to Omiecinski’s office for a scheduled visit.
His probation officer hadn’t given him permission to have those guns, Omiecinski wrote in his affidavit.
According to the affidavit, less than a month ago, Lewiston Detective Wayne Clifford witnessed Epps standing “on the sidewalk pointing a handgun up to a third-floor apartment window.”
Epps had apparently removed the orange safety tips that identify the guns as Airsoft in an effort to make them look like firearms.
Epps was convicted in January in Androscoggin County Superior Court on a felony count of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer stemming from the theft of $1,000 worth of Legos and other goods from Walmart in 2011. He was sentenced to 364 days in jail with all but 16 days suspended, plus two years probation.
This is the second time officers have filed a motion to revoke his probation since January. He was arrested in April for violating probation after testing positive for drugs.
While seeking Epps in connection to the more recent reported probation violations, officers went to Epps’ apartment on Bartlett Street and found Epps’ wife, Jessica Reilly-Epps, and their two youngest children at home. Epps was not there.
According to the affidavit, the apartment was “found to be extremely dirty with the bathroom area covered in what appeared to be vomit and feces on the toilet and floor.”
Police contacted the Department of Health and Human Services and were told the agency would make a home visit.
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