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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMaine "hermit" arrested, accused of hundreds of food thefts
(Reuters) - A Maine man who walked into the woods shortly after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and lived as a hermit for almost three decades, supporting himself by stealing from nearby camps, was arrested last week, police said on Tuesday.
Christopher Knight, 47, had lived nearly without human contact in a tent near a pond outside of Rome, Maine, about 20 miles north of the state capital Augusta, state police said.
They arrested him early on Thursday morning at the Pine Tree Camp, where he was stealing food, police said. They said Knight, now being held at Kennebec County Jail, confessed to burglarizing the camp about 50 times, taking food, clothing, propane tanks and other essentials.
"Everything he owned except for his eyeglasses was stolen," said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman with the Maine State Police.
Knight told the officers who arrested him that he had spoken with only one other person - a lone hiker - during his years of solitude.
The man survived the brutal winters of central Maine, where winter overnight temperatures can drop well below freezing, by sleeping in multiple sleeping bags inside a tent that was covered with a tarp.
He appeared neatly groomed and clean-shaven in a police booking photo. Police also released photos of Knight, wearing a cap and jacket, carrying a large plastic bag inside a walk-in cooler at the Pine Tree Camp where he was apprehended.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/us-usa-maine-hermit-idUSBRE9390NE20130410
RKP5637
(67,086 posts)MrYikes
(720 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)But the "rogue hermit" concept has potential...
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)I hope they get him some help instead of just locking him away in jail.
Paul E Ester
(952 posts)Some residents say they've been aware of the hermit for years, often in connection with break-ins that have occurred. He was so well known to some summer cottage owners that they left food out for him so he wouldn't break in during the colder months, state Trooper Diane Vance said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/christopher-knight-maine-hermit_n_3051159.html