A man wanted on multiple charges surrendered Wednesday after he evaded a massive police manhunt in Buxton Tuesday.

David R. Sanborn Jr., 29, was in custody of the U.S. Marshals’ Service Wednesday. “We arrested him early this afternoon,” Sean Willitts, supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal, said Wednesday.

Willitts said the suspect was arrested in Gray near the turnpike exit. Willitts said the suspect had contacted the Southern Maine Violent Crime Task Force, sponsored by the U.S. Marshals’ Service, on Wednesday morning to make surrender arrangements. The suspect was being transported early Wednesday afternoon to Cumberland County Jail in Portland.

Fleeing barefoot in Buxton, the suspect was expected to be examined medically. “He sustained significant cuts and scratches to his feet,” Willitts said.

Sanborn eluded police Tuesday, and apparently left the area.

Buxton Police Chief Mike Grovo said Wednesday the suspect found an unlocked house and called for help.

“He got a ride out of the area,” Grovo said.

Buxton police and several law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals’ Service, joined forces in an effort to apprehend Sanborn.

“He’ll fight not to be captured,” said Grovo, who had his own physical encounter with the suspect early on in the manhunt. The chief had advised residents Tuesday to lock their doors.

Police said Sanborn was wanted on warrants including two counts of felony burglary, drug and theft charges and refusing to submit to arrest. The suspect will likely face additional charges in Buxton including resisting arrest and assault on a police officer.

Grovo described Sanborn as 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds. He is blond with hazel eyes. He was unshaven and wearing a blue parka, which police later found.

The drama began unfolding Monday night after two Buxton police officers and U.S. marshals surrounded a house at 92 Turkey Lane in Buxton. The marshals had tracked Sanborn, who had recently eluded police in other communities, to Buxton. They said the suspect, barefoot and wearing a T-shirt, ran through a back door. Police used a Taser gun on him, but he kept going.

Police said the suspect hid in a barn in Buxton Monday night. After being discovered in the barn by a farmer Tuesday morning, the suspect asked for a ride to J-D Variety, a convenience store and gas station at the intersection of routes 202 and 22, where Kathy Rollins of Buxton was a clerk on duty.

The farmer dropped the man off at about 8:20 a.m. at the store, where Sanborn paid cash for cigarettes and coffee.

“I waited on him,” Rollins said. “He looked like he just crawled out of bed.”

The farmer had called police after dropping off the suspect at the store. Rollins said police arrived in a white truck.

The suspect sat at a picnic table outside the store.

“He was having his coffee. I grabbed him from behind and I told him he was under arrest,” Grovo said.

But the man resisted, struggling with Grovo.

“He shoved me back,” said Grovo, who didn’t pull his service pistol because the suspect was unarmed. “That’s when I hit him with a Taser.”

But still he kept running.

“He was booking it,” Rollins said when he bolted from the parking lot, still in his bare feet.

Rollins said a dump truck driver briefly gave chase. Rollins said the suspect ran behind the bank across Route 202 and toward the Mustard House.

At that point, the manhunt included police from several communities, Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and state troopers, who patrolled along routes 22 and 202 and Portland Road in a triangle-shaped perimeter. Six police dogs and handlers combed the woods along with game wardens, while a state police airplane circled overhead.

Grovo said it was the biggest search he’s been involved with since the disappearance of Buxton teenager Coreen Wiese three years ago. Her body was found months later in the Saco River.

“We’re covering this whole area,” Grovo said Tuesday at a mobile command post in the parking lot at the former Gorham Tractor Co.

Gorham Police Chief Ron Shepard at the command post said four Gorham officers participated in the hunt. Other departments involved in the manhunt included police from Scarborough, Lewiston, Augusta, Biddeford, and Saco.

“(We’re) trying to keep him contained,” said Gorham Officer Robert Henckel, who patrolled residential areas on Cornfield and Berry roads in Buxton.

With a fugitive running loose, residents were uneasy. A Berry Road resident, Olive Collomy, wife of Buxton Selectman Dan Collomy, said she had two shells ready under her TV.

“I have a .357,” she said.

Andrew Tracy of Buxton, who works at Pine Tree Garage on Route 22, said he was awakened by the sound of planes.

“I was going to work and there were cops everywhere,” Tracy said.

The suspect was caught on the store surveillance tape that showed him making a call from a store phone. “He was constantly looking outdoors,” said Dianne Marrotte, store manager, reviewing the videotape for Grovo.

In the manhunt, Grovo asked for the search plane and for a dog Tuesday. With canine teams training in Windham that day, six dogs and handlers responded.

Dean Knightly of the U.S. Marshals’ Service declined comment at the police command post Tuesday.

“It’s frustrating,” Grovo said about the suspect slipping away.

Police search the woods near Buxton yesterday for David Sanborn, 29, of Casco. A fugitive wanted on multiple warrants, Sanborn surrendered to police early this afternoon in Gray.

Copy the Story Link