CHARLESTON, Maine — Police are on the lookout for two men who escaped from the Charleston Correctional Facility on Sunday evening.
Randall Moulton, 20, of Bangor and Phillip Gardiner, 24, broke out and are allegedly on the loose in the Glenburn area, according to Judy Plummer, spokeswoman for the facility.
Moulton is serving a sentence for burglary and theft by unauthorized taking or transfer, according to Plummer. He began his sentence on June 7 and was scheduled to be released in September 2013.
Moulton is white, 6 feet tall, weighing 180 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes.
Gardiner had been incarcerated for burglary, robbery and criminal threatening since November 2009, Plummer said. He was scheduled to be released in November 2014.
Gardiner is white, 5 feet 6 inches tall, and has brown hair and blue eyes.
Plummer said the two men “just walked out” of the minimum-security facility, which has no perimeter fence.
A number of state police officers are at Route 221 near the Glenburn School searching for the two men.
“It’s always a big collaboration between corrections and police,” said Plummer. “Major efforts are underway to locate them.”
BDN photographer Gabor Degre contributed to this report.
Hope this few hours probably in the woods being eaten alive by mosquitoes is worth the added time to their sentences.
Charleston is out in the middle of nowhere. Went to HCI there and wanted to escape myself, but there is no where to go.
Apparently they had no problem finding a place to go. They made it to Glenburn pretty quickly, and Glenburn is right next door to Bangor. Once in Bangor…easy to blend in, and lots of “resources” for them.
Seems like photos of the inmates would be helpful in an article such as this..
We’re getting there…
poor reporting,, no photo’s of these 2 losers? or is that against their rights? i hope they pick an unarmed house for their sake. i would like to invite them up here but that would probably be against their rights to,, or consider’d baiting..
Wow, give the reporter time to get those photos from the facility. If the BDN had waited for the pictures before putting the story up, you’d be screaming about the fact that they didn’t publish the story earlier to notify people of a potential danger. Just can’t win.
so if i came to work at your place with no tools or material, you’d still pay me to get my sh*% together? ya, i bet..
By the time the paper publishes they will have the full story with photos. This is the online edition which posts things as they happen or as they receive information.
I love the very accurate height description. I will be sure to keep a measuring tape handy.
Just say around 6ft and 5 1/2 ft tall, that is enough information.
“The suspect weight was around 2880 oz. “
At least it’s not in metric……
The nit pickers on here would…. pick at “about.”
…and if you look at their mug shots, their height is actually different than what is stated in the article.
Hope you keep your weapons loaded they will be stealing all
What a couple of winners.
I have an idea… build a fence?
Minimum security correctional facilities aren’t allowed to have a fence. Perhaps we should stop draining all of the money out of our corrections and allow them to stay medium security with fences in tact. Bucks Harbor just became minimum because they are trying to shut it down. They have a fence but the gates must remain open at all times.
Burgalry, robberry, crim threat w/ dangerous weapon etc etc.. They need to catch these guys before they go on a crime spree. Just looked at their profiles at Maine Department of Corrections website…. Pictures are available there to!!
Convicted of Class (A) robbery. What is this guy doing in Charleston and why is he not down at the State Prison???
Must have been one of those plea deals “Hey do this, and we will actually send you to Charleston, best thing about that place, no fences buddy, you can just walk right out of that place, I sure am not kidding!”
which one you talking about
i think these guys walked past my house early this morning
No time for the crime in Maine!
Thrre strikes your out build more prisons-more jobs
How about we turn all the old vacant factories into prisons, then put these guys on the line making stuff. Lock them up and put them to work. Not just busy work, but manufacturing work. Real stuff. Make them pay for themselves to be locked up.
And I’m all for hard labor for child molesters too.
It’s still cheaper to send the work overseas.
Child molesters – ship to a state that has the death penalty
I would like to point out one thing… in the state of Maine you must build a fence around the area of your swimming pool, but apparently you don’t have to build one around a place that hold criminals, who threaten the lives of its citizens. Thank you Charleston. You have shown us all the definition of stupidity.
How about letters to the editor, letters to the commisioner, and letters to the governor! They dress in jeans and t-shirts, nobody would ever think anything of seeing them walking down the street. Lock your doors and be on the lookout! I am thinking a fence would be cheaper than this search……. just saying. They are not in there for being law abiding citizens.
Let’s leave the governor out of this for now, he had a recent spat and well he might not….. actually let’s send him some letters, I am dying to see what analogy he has or who he can blame for this.
that facility was there long before he has been in office! Nice try though!
You missed the complete sarcasm in the post, but thanks for the misinterpretation!
Boy, that sounds almost exactly what you expect to hear from LePage! Let’s push the blame along instead of addressing the real issue here. When you are in jail/prison, that means total confinement – fence included! What is wrong with our state?!?!
please note i am related to one of the 2 who escaped and my brother wouldn’t kill anyone. so yes some may pose a threat to lives but he does not
I am just curious if you are saying he poses a threat or he doesnt? You say he woud kill anyone and say he does not which is it? I wouldnt think that someone in jail for theft would pose a threat but never know, it doesnt say that he hurt anyone just stole something.
I’m thinking he probably meant that he wouldn’t kill anyone??
den you are correct
Alex, I’m sorry about your brother. You don’t own it–try not to feed the trolls.
Take care of yourself and stay safe over there.
yeah i was half asleep when i wrote it. please go back and look at it now i edited my post and it says “wouldnt” he has never hurt anyone he has had his share of fights when we were younger but what do you expect from someone who was in foster care growing up. But i mean this news of him just leaving prison reached me all the way over in Afghanistan. So i guess what i was trying to say is he isnt a threat to lives
Yes that is what I thought that you ment but wasnt sure :) Thanks
What then was he in a minimum security facility to begin with for? Seems like a no brainer to me!
idk theft isnt exactly a federal crime escaping however probably is up there though
I get your point, but I have to tell you that it’s awfully hard to care, since the vast majority of us seem to be able to get through life without have to be jailed. Your brother may be a great kid, but he needs to start making some different choices before the rest of us are going to want him around. And I don’t see any evidence that he’s looking to make changes to the way he’s living his life, based on the fact that he just escaped from prison.
I get your point as well, but I also have this small thing that proves your point and that is i havent talked to him in about 2 years and where as I dont really live in the Greater Bangor area where we are from anymore let alone actually living in Maine I know where people that arent related to him are coming from. But its his actions that have put him into this situation so he is making it that much worse on him and i mean this is coming from a guy serving in Afghanistan so like i said i get your point
Whats the world coming to. Am I agreeing with Bangorian? I did not think it possible.
i already said that i pretty much agree too. like i said we havent talked in over 2 1/2 years
Well how nice, cause guess what he’s going to the big house now! And if he is no threat then why the heck did he escape?
Yeah well he screwed up so at this point deserves whatever he has coming at this point
You posting this from Afganistan is very noble of you especially with you acknowleding that his escape was wrong. I hope, for his sake, that he does change his life around. You only have one chance at it…
I also hope for the best for you over there and a safe return home, Alex. :0)
im glad the cops in Maine are exposed to how useless they are. the only purpose they serve is to keep McDonalds in business. once again, way to go troops!
Have you ever been a cop?? Do you read the papers? And just who do YOU serve?
They aren’t cops!
They have the same set up in Warren at the Bolduc Correctional Facility. I understand minimum security, but this sounds like NO SECURITY! I feel bad for anyone living within a 5 mile radius of either “prison”.
2 dorms, 150+ inmates, 3 staff….. you figure it out. With a proper staffing package, this may not have happened. It goes much higher than the prison itself. Make it medium/minimum and get a fence! Seems a lot cheaper than a search of this sort, not to mention public safety.
Its a minimum security !!! They arent allowed to have a fence! How about we stop draining the money out of corrections and keep the prisions medium security so that the surrounding communities feel safer. Charleston has no choice here.
This is a disgrace! I have never heard of any prison that doesn’t have a fence around the facility!! How is this possible? Maybe Gov. LePage needs to take a look at our prisons and make some changes LIKE PUTTING UP A DOG GONE FENCE!!
I am packing.not afraid to defend myself.
I saw 2 guys on bikes go by my house earlier this morning… I have a feeling it might have been them. They stopped to look at my neighbor’s motorcycle for sale. Ugh.
Phillip is also a child molestor and went to juvy for it.
I thought Charleston Correctional Facility was for juveniles? these guys are in their 20’s.
Mountain View is in Charleston and that is the juvenile center. Right behind the juvenile center is an adult prison.
https://www1.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/mdoc/search-and-deposit/search.pl
Inmate search and their photos are available along with what these thugs were convicted of.
With the sheer brutality of Gardiner’s past, starting before he was an adult, I cannot believe he was in Charleston, “which has no perimeter fence”, so they can “just walked out”….so happy to see that the DOC cares so about our safety….total BS !!!!!
Charleston is an all minimum security just like Bolduc facility, meaning no fence. When something happens people cry about lack of security, but if they raised taxes to pay for it…
DOC had to cut because of budget crisis just like other state agencies, so guess what got cut? Officer positions, because they’re such overpaid state workers that don’t do anything?!
When these guys get caught, and they will, they’ll face an additional 5 years and won’t be at a min security facility
Wait. You mean people would actually have to PAY for fencing? *gaspshock* But I thought all that magically appeared!
People have a tendency to demand, demand, demand and want, want, want but no one wants to pay more taxes or be the ones to give something up when things need to be cut because we’re broke.
This is a perfect example. Minimum security SHOULD be fenced or have more guards and yet because of budget cuts…..
Can’t have it both ways.
Why don’t they put a big ole fence around that place with some nice razor wire on top? How can you have a prison without a fence?
Min security. Not allowed to have a fence.
thanks to liberals.
thanks to whoever, still the gates are open.
at least they didn’t escape
minimum security now appears to be zero security even walmart has someone watching the door!
Not anymore
Excuse my possible ignorance, but WHY are minimum security prisons not allowed to have a fence? It is a PRISON is it not?
the good ol’ justice system.
the liberals believe that it’s the best way to “rehabilitate” criminals.
instead of punishment for crime, they get a slap on the wrist and a hotel stay for a while, complete with free health care, 3 hot meals, and a warm place to sleep.
and the victims of their crimes get to pay for it all.
so much for justice.
If we kept all the criminals fenced in, min or max prison, the cops would have to find something else to do if they don’t get an escapee now and then.
Wow
I’ve seen tighter security at a Ted Nugent concert!
Me tooo!!!!! Love it!!
There’s no fence? So prisoners walk off when they feel like it…. Interesting concept, for sure!
I wonder if it would be just as easy to walk in for a free lunch?
Imagine how the CharLies and Paul would raise the roof! Welfare cheats! Coming into prison to get free food!!
Yup you can, nobody was watching the food when I walked in so I just helped myself and walked back out. Now that it is after the fact, there should be a news article on someone taking food later today.
The concept is that these two “HAD” earned the priveledge of being classified a minimum security risk. THEY screwed that up! NOW they will be treated VERY differently! THEY have EARNED it and I`m sure they WILL regret this escape attempt. LOL, too late…..
Well it wasn’t their abundance of brains that got them locked up in the first place, now they’ll do more time in a worse place…like you said lol
So, are you telling me they had been in a more secure confinement and earned their way out? I didn’t get that from the article. Why don’t we save money and put them under house arrest?
if they’re caught before they commit another crime.
remember, an animal is most dangerous when it is backed into a corner.
These guys are now on the run, what makes you think they’d go back to jail quietly, especially since they’re now fugitives?
Be safe everyone!
The guards were probably waiting for the iced coffee.
Why don’t you apply there honey, then maybe you would see what its really like. I am pretty certain it isn’t quite as nice as we seem to think it is.
oh great, couple weeks back the police had a house surrounded and the person was in Bangor, now they are out looking for these 2 convicts, and look at all the cops standing around – 6 in the main picture!!! What do they think the convicts will just happen to walk into them?
Only in Maine!
D.O.T across the country have been “working” this way for ages. Not right, not new, not only in Maine, and not only cops. Look at how much work Augusta gets done, in the months they work. Augusta would draw unemployment, if we didn’t pay them year ’round…….
I believe the real question should be lets talk about the staffing that is at CCF. My understanding one guard watching 90 plus men by himself, this is what I would call not very tight security. In fact with four staff watching 150 men on a night shift, could ya explain how this is making the community safe?
I love the picture of 6 cops standing around and leaning on the hood of a vehicle…doesnt look like theyre looking too hard…did they sneak out the back door again? LOL
doing nothing and racking up overtime
not true at all and you know it! Hope you don’t need a cop at night. Oh god they might be on OT and they can’t respond. Get a clue!
Well, hey it’s hot out ……….. Somebody said we had donuts and iced coffee coming …………
They are looking at a map on the hood of a truck and planning a strategy on how to find the kids out in the middle of the woods. Have some respect for the ones that wear the uniform.
What about the ones not wearing uniforms Bushfan??? Can I pick on them? Its called a sense of humor…try one, theyre tasty
1) Plummer said the two men “just walked out” of the minimum-security facility, which has no perimeter fence.
2) A number of state police officers are at Route 221 near the Glenburn School searching for the two men.
I see a contradiction here. If they posed a threat to public safety they shouldn’t have been at a facility they can just walk away from. I’m sure they would turn up without an expensive search. Obviously, they will face charges for escaping and they won’t get sent back to a minimum-security facility.
I forgot to add, Damn FOOLS…..
I really dont understand how they could just “walk out” of jail! Also how come people dont do this every day if it is so easy to walk out??
no fences, minimum security
it seems you and I are the only ones aware of this fact. Oh well, let them rant about fences around pools but not around prisons. 8-/
Very true, i told one person about this a month ago or so when they escaped from a jail on a different newspaper but they ranted on about how they know everything. I worked at charleston for 7 years i should know lol
Ever seen the movie Idiocracy?… We are so close to that time now.
Linked story says Gardiner was arrested in an armed home invasion, while on probation, with a lengthy criminal past. He was lucky enough to be in Minimum and STILL walks away? I’d say he’s not getting the message, Justice System.
I love our police here in Maine…but lately, all of the articles make them out to be the Keystone Kops! So sad!
I agree, if the people saying this crap would take one of them jobs, I am sure this would be a much safer place….(cough….gag)
Wow. I feel REAL safe at home tonight!
This is where the second amendment comes in handy.
You are the second person to say that to me tonight.
I have to agree.
Obama left them nothing to get out for.. No hope no change. They know they will be doing alot more time when they get caught with the knowledge that Mit will fix things and there will be work next time they get out.
I am not familiar with Moulton, but if you see Gardiner in/near your home????? Protect yourslf, and do us all a favor and SHOOT HIM !!!!!!
Can it really be called “escaping” when there is nothing holding them in?
They need to build these things on an island if they don’t want to build a fence. The cold water will slow them down.
ccf is not the same well run facility is was in the 80s and 90s. the inmates are running off grounds on a daily basis and picking up contraband and running back in and nothing happens to them then there is a problem.The publics safety is at risk anf if I lived in that area i would be worried. The commisioner and his chronies really have gone away from what made ccf what it was before, and now its gone. What a shame.The public does not know half of whats going on there.
CCf is not the same well run facility is was in the 80s and 90s. Prisoners run off grounds on a daily basis to pick up contraband and no discipline to follow.The commissioner and his cronies have made it unsafe for the the public that live in the Area. You could see this coming as things have been going down hill for sometime. sooner or later someone is going to be seriously hurt as commissiner Ponte continues to try to save money as the publics safety is at risk. Doc use performance based standards and ACA exceptance as a smoke screen to how bad its going on the inside.
CCf is not the great run fcaility is was in the 80s and 90s . If you live near CCF beware this is just the tip of the iceberg to wahts going on there and how poorly they have mishandled what was a great place to work and be incarcerated.
Looking at that photo shouldn’t the headline be :
Police searching each other for two men who walked out of Charleston correctional facility ?
It sounds like they “escaped” from this facility about as much as I “escaped” from the theater at the end of the last movie I saw. I suppose, though, that is still the legal term for leaving prison without permission, even if it is as easy as clocking out of the office at the end of the day.
Kinda curious why they wanted to escape CHARLESTON. Its the most minimum security prison we have and considered a summer camp for the inmates. They play softball games, have a gym for basketball, a weight room and they can even play video games in their pods. Now, when they are caught, they will surely spend the remainder of their time at Warren. Hope they enjoy it..along with the time that will certainly be tacked on.
some one call Blake Shelton.. we need Ole Red!
Charleston is a work release for minimum security prisoners. It’s set up so that these people that have around a year left, that are not a “threat to society” can go and learn life skills like working, saving money, and paying bills since a lot of them have never done anything of the sorts other than stealing or selling drugs to get by. The program is set up to try to help these people end up being useful in the community and not spending there life in the system. I think I’d rather see them in a program like this instead of doing there last year in a max security prison with nothing to do but think up there next “heist”. There’s always going to be a few bad eggs here and there and that’s life!
shoot on sight–see who’s willing to walk off the grounds next.
Someone should contact Senator John McCain to do a Maine commercial for minimum security prison reform…
“Just build the danged fence!”