PORTLAND — A Gilead woman who pleaded guilty in August to torching vehicles at a Lebanon towing company was sentenced to five years in federal prison during a recent hearing.
Jaymi Hutchins, 31, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to maliciously damaging and destroying property used in interstate commerce by fire. The blaze destroyed three vehicles, including a wrecker, at A.C. Provo’s on Route 202 on Oct. 25, 2016.
The court recommended that Hutchins be enrolled in the Bureau of Prisons’ 500-hour comprehensive drug treatment program while she is incarcerated at the Danbury, Connecticut, facility or if she is transferred elsewhere.
Jaymi Hutchins (Oxford County Jail)
Surveillance video, DNA, and a footprint from a pair of Adidas slide sandals helped investigators build their case against Hutchins.
Court documents outlining the prosecution’s version of the case show Hutchins first arrived in the parking lot of the towing company around 1:42 a.m. in a light-colored sedan. She spent about 20 minutes walking around several vehicles parked in the lot, according to the document filed by U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank.
Hutchins drove away in a Chevrolet Cobalt from the A.C. Provo’s lot and returned with it at about 3:47 a.m. The prosecution version of the case states Hutchins entered several other vehicles, set fire to a 2005 Ford Freestyle around 4:11 a.m., and left the scene in a Chevy Cobalt seven minutes later.
Also destroyed in the fire was a 2004 Kia Sedona and a 2008 GMC wrecker A.C. Provo’s used to tow customers in Maine and neighboring New Hampshire.
The documents note that other vehicles were vandalized and shoe prints were left behind on their roofs
Surveillance from a game camera from about 7:11 p.m. the following day showed Hutchins burglarizing and damaging a residence in Gilead. At about 7:59 p.m., an Oxford County Sheriff’s Office deputy encountered Hutchins sleeping in what they later learned was the stolen Chevy Cobalt on North Road in Gilead, according to the court documents.
At about 11:44 p.m, deputies found the stolen Cobalt crashed, upside down, abandoned and damaged on North Road. Further game camera images showed Hutchins returning to the home the next morning, splashing an unidentified liquid onto the carpet and furniture just prior to setting a fire, the court documents noted. A smoke alarm notified local police at 7:35 a.m.
Hutchins’ father reported observing his daughter climbing into her parents’ Gilead residence through a bedroom window at about 7:11 a.m.
Hutchins was wearing Adidas slide sandals when she was arrested later that day. A forensic scientist from the Maine State Crime Lab compared photos of the treads found on the roofs of vehicles in the A.C. Provo’s lot with the tread on Hutchins’ sandals and found a “high degree of association” between impressions left by the right sandal and the photographed impression.
A cigarette butt, a plastic cup and the air bag from the crashed Chevy Cobalt all contained Hutchins’s DNA, the court documents further noted.
A vehicle owned by Hutchins was found in the parking lot of a convenience store a quarter mile away from A.C. Provo’s business premises.
The investigation was conducted by the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office; the York and Oxford County sheriff’s offices; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Once she completes her sentence, Hutchins will be supervised for three years, court documents show. She has been ordered to pay restitution, though the amount was not disclosed. Special conditions of her supervised released are that she participate in mental health treatment and in a workforce development program. If not employed, she is to perform up to 20 hours a week of community service.
Hutchins is not to use or possess any controlled substances, alcohol or other intoxicants and is to participate in drug and alcohol abuse therapy.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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