Bail set at $50,000 for driver accused of leading police on high-speed, 2-county chase

By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff

Bail was set Monday, June 28 at $50,000 cash for the man accused of leading police on a high-speed chase that ended Sunday afternoon in Bangor at the Irving gas station on Broadway.

Chad Delano, 31, of Florida and Maine is charged with burglary, two counts of theft, eluding an officer, three counts of criminal mischief, two counts of burglary of a motor vehicle and driving to endanger in connection with the chase. He also faces a harassment charge from June 2020 in Bangor and one count each of domestic violence assault and criminal mischief previously filed in Waldo County.

The Penobscot County District Attorney’s office is looking into whether he is on probation in Florida on a battery conviction.

Delano abruptly ended his first appearance before District Court Judge John Lucy when told he would not be able to have contact with his wife, the named victim in the harassment charge. He swore at the judge and walked away from the computer at the Penobscot County Jail, where inmates make first appearances remotely.

Lucy set bail at $50,000, the amount requested by the district attorney’s office, on the charges stemming from the high-speed chase and $500 cash bail on the harassment charge. The judge found that Delano “is a significant flight risk and safety risk to the community.”

Bangor attorney Joseph Belisle, who represented Delano for Monday’s first appearance, said that he had been living in Maine for eight months and that if he was released on bail Delano would reside in the Bangor Gardens area of the city, located not far from where he was arrested. The lawyer said that Delano could only afford to post $500 or $1,000 cash bail because he was not working. 

Chelsea Lynds, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, said that Delano’s criminal history in Florida dates back to 2009, when he would have been a juvenile under Maine law. Those charges included car theft, burglary, resisting arrest, aggravated stalking, battery and failures to appear in court.

Delano protested that those old cases should not be held against him.

“I was just a kid,” he said.

He also told the judge that some of them were “trumped up” and “had been dismissed.”

Lucy did not ask Delano to enter pleas to the charges as many of them are felonies and he has not yet been indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury.

Delano’s next court appearance is set for Aug. 3.

The high-speed chase began in Guilford when a Piscataquis County sheriff’s deputy attempted to stop Chad Delano because he was wanted in Florida and Maine.

He came to the attention of law enforcement at about 2:15 p.m. when two people went to the Piscataquis County sheriff’s Guilford office to report that Delano was in town looking for an ex-girlfriend, according to Sheriff Bob Young.

The deputy went to a Guilford residence, confirmed the information he’d been provided and was given a description of Delano’s 2008 GMC Yukon, Young said Monday. 

The deputy located Delano driving in Guilford and attempted to stop him, but he fled at high speeds, the sheriff said. The deputy pursued the suspect toward Dover Foxcroft, but as the deputy reached the town area, he backed off the pursuit. He found him again on Route 7 in Dover-Foxcroft, and chased him toward Dexter, which is in Penobscot County.

Maine State Police troopers joined the high-speed chase at about 3:39 p.m. on Route 2 in Etna after Dexter and Newport police also tried to stop him, said Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the Maine State Police.

Delano allegedly failed to stop his 2008 GMC Yukon for a trooper in Stetson. The trooper attempted but failed to maneuver in front of Delano’s car and the trooper’s cruiser and Delano’s car became disabled. Delano stopped at a residence on Lapointe Road in Stetson, where he entered it, came out of the home and stole a vehicle, Moss said.

State police requested a helicopter from the Maine Forest Service to join the pursuit from the air. The pilot was able to follow Delano in the stolen vehicle onto Route 222, also Union Street, from Levant to Bangor, Moss said.

Penobscot County Sheriff’s deputies were able to lay spikes, and after continuing through the city of Bangor, Delano pulled into the Circle K on Broadway near Interstate 95, where he allegedly attempted to steal another vehicle just before troopers took him into custody.

More than half a dozen cruisers converged on the gas station and convenience store. 

If convicted, Delano faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000 for the burglary alone. He also could be ordered to pay restitution for damage to the stolen vehicles.