SKOWHEGAN — A Skowhegan woman arrested Nov. 23 for allegedly being in possession of $17,000 in stolen cash and a one-way train ticket to Chicago has been ordered held without bail pending a bail hearing.
Jaclyn Suezanne Rutherford, 28, is charged with using a flat-edge crowbar to pry open a safe at a family member’s home on Waterville Road and stealing $22,000 in cash, according to court documents. The money was kept in packets of $1,000 and $2,000 in Bangor Savings Bank envelopes. Police found the damaged safe in a closet and found the crowbar in a bedroom where Rutherford slept in the family home.
Of the $22,000 allegedly stolen, Rutherford was found in possession of $16,800. She allegedly told police she had given $5,000 to a friend for picking her up the night of the alleged theft and to help the friend pay rent, according to court documents.
Rutherford, who has been convicted and fined for theft in Augusta in 2013 and for use of drug paraphernalia in Farmington the same year, already was out on bail when she was arrested Nov. 23.
She was charged Oct. 7 in Skowhegan with assault, violating conditions of release and with obstructing the report of a crime for allegedly attacking another member of her family, though not the victims of the theft.
Rutherford allegedly used physical force to prevent the alleged victim of the assault from calling police. As she was taken away in handcuffs by police, she allegedly screamed obscenities at the female family member, according to the court documents.
“I’m going to kill her,” she allegedly yelled at police. “You can’t keep me forever, and when I get out I’m going for her. You can’t stop me. I’m going to beat her (expletive).”
All three of the charges are listed as misdemeanors, and she was released Oct. 11 on unsecured bond with the conditions that she not engage in new criminal conduct.
Court documents show Rutherford had no cash on hand and no income when she was arrested. Documents say she can not work due to injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident.
The new charges against Rutherford are theft, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. She did not enter a plea Monday in court during the bail hearing.
She is charged additionally with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, for damaging the safe. No bail was allowed by the judge on the felony theft charge.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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