On Tuesday, Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson announced the closure of the Wainwright Field vandalism case, with the culprits avoiding criminal charges.
On June 15, the Westbrook High School varsity baseball team won the state championship. Some, but not all, of the team members celebrated at a home in South Portland near the Wainwright Fields. The party-goers migrated onto the fields, where they took golf carts from the storage building, drove them all over the fields and returned them damaged. The fields were also damaged, all garbage cans and several lacrosse goals were tipped over, and numerous beer cans had been left throughout the facility building and adjacent fields. The vandalism was discovered the next morning by grounds maintenance employees for the City of South Portland. Damage was estimated at $6,000 for the golf carts, and staff from Parks and Recreation repaired the damage to the fields.
There were no eyewitnesses or investigative leads at that time, but soon after rumors began floating around that a Westbrook High School sports team was responsible.
About two weeks later, South Portland’s Detective Sergeant Steve Webster was contacted by a local TV news station to do a story on the vandalism. Webster agreed and the story aired. A few days later, Attorney Sarah Churchill contacted Webster. She represented one of the individuals responsible for the damage and told Webster that 12 individuals were involved and that they wanted to take responsibility for their actions and make amends.
On July 31, 2013, legal representatives of the culprits met with prosecutors and Webster. An agreement was reached and District Attorney Stephanie Anderson drafted contracts which she, the youths, and their attorneys signed. In exchange for the District Attorney not prosecuting the youth and keeping their identities confidential, each of the 12 had to pay $500 restitution, perform 40 hours of community service to the public works department, and compose a joint letter of responsibility and apology to the City of South Portland, all before Sept. 1.
“I am pleased to report that all of the potential defendants completed their obligations under the contract. The City of South Portland received compensation for the damage done to the golf carts and 480 hours of free labor, plus an apology. By taking responsibility and paying the community back, they earned the opportunity not to have this one night of revelry derail their future plans. Several of these kids were heading to college or the armed services. Hopefully, they will all learn from this and their names will not cross my desk again,” Anderson said.
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