ROCKLAND, Maine — A St. George sternman has been sentenced to two years in prison for sinking a rival’s lobster boat, making him the second person to be convicted of the crime.
Vincent Hilt, 22, of Vinalhaven, pleaded guilty on March 2 in Knox County Unified Court to helping to scuttle Joshua Hupper’s 36-footer, Oracle, during the early morning of Sept. 1 while it was moored in Tenants Harbor. None of Hilt’s sentence is suspended.
Hilt was charged with aggravated criminal mischief and felony theft for helping to cut Hupper’s hose lines, open the boat’s through-hull valves and turning the bilge pump switches to the off position, which caused the boat to sink. Damages to Hupper’s boat are estimated to be around $50,000, according to the affidavit filed by the Knox County Sheriff’s Department.
Hilt did not act alone. Devin Meklin, 21, of Warren, pled guilty to the same charges and was sentenced in January to 24 months with all but three months suspended. Charges brought against a third man, Hilt’s captain, Alan Norwood, of St. George, who allegedly enlisted him to sink Hupper’s boat, are still pending in court.
Hilt and Meklin allegedly were paid $500 by Norwood to sink Hupper’s boat. According to the affidavit, Hilt agreed to Norwood’s proposition, which was initially suggested because both men “thought that Hupper was hauling their gear,” meaning pulling lines and traps out of the water.
Hilt said he “knew Hupper was hauling their gear because when Hupper went by them (in his boat), Hupper ‘waked them’ and was setting gear on top of Norwood’s gear.”
Hilt enlisted Meklin to assist him with the job and late in the night on Aug. 31, both men embarked in a skiff from WildCat Lobster wharf in Tenants Harbor and went aboard Hupper’s boat to cut the lines and open the valves. Meklin later testified he remembers “hearing water rushing in.”
Around 7 a.m. the following morning, they returned to take Hupper’s skiff and headed out into the harbor before cutting it loose and taking out the outboard.
Both Hilt and Meklin have been ordered by the court to pay $16,266.84 in restitution.