By David Harry

Staff Writer

A video clip released last week by Maine Attorney General Janet Mills shows several federal agents in blue windbreakers approaching an Old Orchard Beach house on a calm morning late last spring.

As one agent nears the front door, blinds at the front window jerk and puffs of smoke appear as gunfire erupts.

The clip backs Mills’ finding that agents who attempted to arrest American Outlaws motorcycle gang member Thomas Mayne last June 15 were justified in using deadly force against him. 

“Because the agents used deadly force in self-defense, no criminal action will ensue against the officers involved in this incident,” Mills said.

All fatal shootings involving law enforcement are investigated by the Office of Attorney General. 

Mills said a special response team of federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents attempted to arrest Mayne at his home on Sandy Circle when he opened fire around 6 a.m.

Mayne, a member of the American Outlaws motorcycle gang, was named last June 11 in a grand jury indictment in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He and 26 other gang members faced drug, weapons and racketeering violations, according to the indictment.

Mills said her investigation, which included interviews with about 40 witnesses, showed Mayne fired six times with a .45-caliber handgun and federal agents fired 20 shots in return, all in the span of about seven seconds.

Mills said Maine Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Margaret Greenwald found Mayne had been killed by six shots to his head and neck and also was shot once in his legs. No agents were injured during the raid.

About 25 minutes after the shooting stopped, Mayne’s brother-in-law, Kenneth Chretien, emerged from the house, according to an affidavit filed by ATF Special Agent John B. Kaufman. 

Agents subdued Chretien with a Taser when he refused to drop to his hands and knees, Kaufman said.

Two women were in the home during the shootout, but Mayne was the only person to open fire. He was found clutching the handgun with two other weapons nearby, Mills said.

Chretien, 47, initially was charged with interfering with officers trying to serve a warrant. He pleaded guilty in November to a weapons charge in U.S. District Court in Portland. He will serve a 10-year prison sentence and was fined $250,000.

Chretien was not named in the indictment that brought federal agents to Mayne’s home, but three other Maine Outlaws members, Thomas Benvie of Sanford, Joseph Allman of Hollis and Michael Pedini of Madison, were arrested and pleaded guilty to a variety of charges.

According to court records, Pedini admitted he and Mayne were the Outlaws members who shot and severely wounded a member of the Hell’s Angels in Canaan in October 2009.

The gangs were involved in a multi-state feud and the shooting was ordered by Outlaws president Jack “Milwaukee Jack” Rosga, Pedini admitted. 

In October, Benvie pleaded guilty to one count of violating the federal racketeering, influencing and corrupt organizations act commonly called the RICO act. Benvie faces a maximum penalty of 20 years as part of the plea agreement reached in federal court in Richmond, Va.

Three days after Chretien entered his guilty plea, the Hollis home used as a clubhouse by Maine Outlaws members was destroyed by an accidental fire.

Staff Writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219.