DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
District of Maine

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Thomas E. Delahanty II
, United States Attorney
Contact: Darcie N. McElwee

Former Windham Couple Pleads Guilty to Firearms Charges

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Theodore “Ted” Thomes, 55, and his wife, Renee Thomes, 51, both formerly of Windham, Maine, now of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, pleaded guilty this week, in U.S. District Court, to firearms charges. Ted Thomes was convicted of being a felon in possession of firearms.  Renee Thomes was convicted of knowingly transferring firearms to a non-Maine resident.

According to evidence presented at the plea hearing, prior to July 2011, Renee Thomes acquired several handguns belonging to a Windham neighbor for whom the couple served as caretakers. In December 2011, Ted Thomes, a convicted felon who had previously been convicted in Maine for being a felon in possession of firearms, took the handguns to the home of another neighbor.  In June 2012, Renee Thomes retrieved the handguns and illegally gave them to a New Hampshire auctioneer.

Ted Thomes faces up to 10 years in prison.  Renee Thomes faces up to five years in prison.  Both face a $250,000 fine.  They will be sentenced after completion of presentence investigation reports by the U.S. Probation Office.

The investigation was conducted by the Windham Police Department, the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

 

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