BANGOR, Maine — Police spent Sunday searching for a transient who is “armed and dangerous” and may be looking to score drugs on First Street in Bangor, where last year he stabbed a local man to death during a fight.

Jason Alan Trickett, 42, is wanted for stealing a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee, a loaded handgun and cash early Sunday from a home in Machiasport, Maine State Police Trooper Jason Fowler said Sunday morning. He was found not guilty of manslaughter in September for the May 2012 stabbing death of Andy Smith, 38, of Bangor outside 71 First St.





Police believe Trickett, a known bath salts user, may be heading to First Street to purchase the hallucinogenic street drug, and are looking for the public’s help in finding him, but are warning people not to approach the armed man.

“We do consider him armed and dangerous,” Fowler said. “If you see the vehicle or him call 911 immediately.”

Trickett took a silver 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee, with the license plate number 7979TL, a loaded 45-caliber handgun and several hundred dollars in cash from a home in Machiasport, said Fowler, who works for Troop J. The incident was reported at about 9:40 a.m. Sunday.

Trickett, who is a transient, spent Saturday night at the home of a couple along Route 191 in Machiasport, Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said is a statement issued Sunday afternoon.

Trickett told the Jeep’s owner he was going to the store for supplies to ride out the storm, but never returned, Fowler said. After the homeowners reported the vehicle stolen, they noticed that cash and a loaded handgun were missing, McCausland said. The male victim told police he believes Trickett is heading to Bangor.

“He’s just assuming — with his history with First Street — that is where he is going since he has $600 and a gun,” the trooper said. “He could be anywhere from Machias, Lamoine and Bangor.”

Trickett told police he accidentally stabbed Smith in the heart during a group fight in the early morning hours of May 22, 2012, after drinking and doing drugs all day. Smith, a father of two young children, later died at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

“I didn’t want to stab him, I just wanted to push him down,” a crying Trickett told Bangor police detectives Brent Beaulieu and Tim Cotton on June 4, 2012, police affidavits filed in court state.

Trickett, who described Smith as a friend, was found not guilty of manslaughter on Sept. 23, in a jury-waived trial before Superior Court Justice William Anderson at the Penobscot Judicial Center. In announcing his verdict, Anderson said that he was persuaded by the defense team’s argument that Trickett acted in self-defense when he stabbed Smith.

The judge said the state had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Trickett’s actions that night were, as the law required, a gross deviation from the reasonable conduct a different individual might have engaged in under similar circumstances. Anderson also said the state had not disproved that Trickett acted in self-defense as the law required for a guilty verdict.

Defense attorneys Marvin Glazier and Hunter Tzovarras of Bangor represented Trickett. Glazier said after the verdict that Trickett was “sad and remorseful” concerning Smith’s death.

Bangor police Sgt. Kevin MacLaren said Sunday that local officers have been informed to be on the lookout for the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Trickett, and have been urged to use extreme caution when approaching him.

Trickett is described as 5-foot 10-inches tall with brown hair and eyes who weighs approximately 170 pounds, McCausland said.

Those with information about Trickett’s whereabouts or the missing Jeep Grand Cherokee can call Maine State Police in Orono at 866-2121 or 911.

BDN reporter Judy Harrison contributed to this story.