PUBLISHER'S NOTE: If this story proves to be 'fiction' I will make a donation to an Innocence Project - and apologize in advance to my readers. (If it doesn't I will make the donation anyway!)
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Kevin Raymond Curtis, of Augusta, held up an evidence bag Tuesday containing two small, clear plastic bags of a white sandy material. Police had suspected the grainy substance was heroin. It was actually his father. The 48 grams of suspected heroin seized after a car crash Saturday morning in Manchester proved instead to be human remains — specifically, the cremated remains of Robert Clinton Curtis Sr., who died five years ago in Brookville, Florida. “This was the first time my father was ever in lockup right here, and it took me forever to get him out of it,” Curtis said. In fact, it took about 48 hours to have the cremains returned from the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office after a field test showed the substance was negative for heroin."
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Curtis said he hasn’t had his father’s ashes long. “My sister had them and gave some of them to me just recently,” he said. He said he had kept father’s cremains in the glove box while he awaited arrival of an urn he had ordered. “I didn’t want them if they were in the house, the kids ripping them open and having them everywhere,” Curtis said. Curtis, 57, has four children. “The kids were really mad when they found out that (the police) took Grandpa, but I tried to make a joke of it. I said, ‘This is the first time he’s ever been in lockup and we’ll just get him out.”
STORY: "Powder seized by police after car crash was human remains, not heroin," by reporter Betty Adams, published by centralmaine.com on April 24, 2018.
SUB-HEADING: "Kevin Raymond Curtis, of Augusta, says his father's cremated remains were in a vehicle's glove compartment while he awaited arrival of an urn he had ordered."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Kevin Curtis holds an evidence bag Tuesday that contains two clear pouches filled with the ashes of his late father, Robert C. Curtis Sr. The smaller bags had been seized as suspected heroin by Kennebec County sheriff's deputies after a car crash Saturday in Manchester. Kevin Curtis had lent his car to a friend to go to the grocery store, and the remains were in the glove box."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Robert C. Curtis Sr., formerly of Maine and Florida, was the father of Kevin Curtis. His remains were seized by police as suspected heroin."
GIST: "Kevin Raymond Curtis, of Augusta, held up an evidence bag
Tuesday containing two small, clear plastic bags of a white sandy
material. Police had suspected the grainy substance was heroin. It was actually his father. The 48 grams of suspected heroin seized after a car crash Saturday
morning in Manchester proved instead to be human remains — specifically,
the cremated remains of Robert Clinton Curtis Sr., who died five years ago in Brookville, Florida. “This was the first time my father was ever in lockup right here, and it took me forever to get him out of it,” Curtis said. In fact, it took about 48 hours to have
the cremains returned from the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office after a
field test showed the substance was negative for heroin. Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason confirmed the test results Tuesday,
calling the substance “human remains; a rather unusual manner in which
to keep the remains of a loved one, for sure.” The elder Curtis probably would have been pleased with the result;
after all, he had worked as an auxiliary officer for the Hallowell
Police Department in the late 1950s, then worked in local factories, his
son said in an interview Tuesday. On Saturday, Kevin Curtis had lent his 2006 Chevrolet Impala to a
friend, Jess Legendre, 31, of Livermore Falls, to go to the grocery
store. Curtis said he was unaware Legrendre’s license had been
suspended. Police said Legendre’s license had been revoked because he
was a habitual offender. While Legendre was traveling along Prescott Road in Manchester, the vehicle went off the road, struck and broke a utility pole and ended up in a ditch. Initially, investigators thought he was under the influence of
heroin, and emergency responders used the opioid-overdose reversal drug
Narcan on him to revive him after he appeared to pass out while
rummaging through the glove box for paperwork. Deputies found the small
bags of powder and suspected they contained heroin. A second dose of
Narcan was administered later at MaineGeneral Medical Center, where
Legendre was taken for treatment. Curtis said he hasn’t had his father’s ashes long. “My sister had them and gave some of them to me just recently,” he said. He said he had kept father’s cremains in the glove box while he
awaited arrival of an urn he had ordered. “I didn’t want them if they
were in the house, the kids ripping them open and having them
everywhere,” Curtis said. Curtis, 57, has four children. “The kids were really mad when they
found out that (the police) took Grandpa, but I tried to make a joke of
it. I said, ‘This is the first time he’s ever been in lockup and we’ll
just get him out.” He also said some of his father’s remains had dumped out during the crash and the ashes had spilled on Legendre’s pants. Curtis said his sister, who is from Winthrop, is driving around with
more of their father’s cremains in her truck because she is in the
process of moving. And an unrelated visitor to Kevin
Curtis’s home Tuesday morning said she has the cremains of her
grandmother in her vehicle, although they are in the original packaging
she received from the funeral home. The woman said she was waiting for
relatives to agree before the remains could be interred. On Monday, Legendre was charged with operating after habitual offender revocation and falsifying physical evidence. He was not charged with any drug-related offense and there’s no
evidence he was under the influence of drugs at the time, even though he
seemingly responded to the opioid-overdose reversal drug Narcan
administered by emergency repsonders. “At the time we didn’t have the correct testing equipment to test it.
It has since come back negative and that property has been returned to
the owner,” said Lt. Chris Read, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s
Office. Legendre had called Curtis and his girlfriend, Jennifer Nisby,
immediately after the crash to tell them what happened, Nisby said on
Tuesday. She too is a longtime friend of Kevin Curtis. Both Curtis and Nisby said Legendre was tired after finishing a
20-hour shift. Authorities said that rescue personnel found a small
chunk of a brown substance in Legendre’s mouth, believed at the time to
be heroin, but Nisby has an explanation for that, too. “The only thing that was in his mouth was something that came from the airbag and he was gagging on that,” Nisby said. “The airbag hit him right straight in the face,” Curtis said. “He wasn’t breathing right and said his eyes were burning.” They said they suspect that’s why the Narcan was administered. Narcan, also referred to as naloxone, is “a medication designed to
rapidly reverse opioid overdose,” is safe and affects only those with
opioids in their system, according to the National Institute on Drug
Abuse. Legrendre remained in the Kennebec County jail in Augusta early
Tuesday afternoon but was expected to be released later on bail, which
had been set Monday at $1,000 in cash or, alternatively, $250 cash with a
Maine Pretrial Services supervision contract."
The entire story can be found at:
https://www.centralmaine.com/2018/04/24/tests-show-powder-seized-by-police-after-car-crash-were-human-remains-not-heroin/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
The entire story can be found at:
https://www.centralmaine.com/2018/04/24/tests-show-powder-seized-by-police-after-car-crash-were-human-remains-not-heroin/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
