Southwest Harbor Man Sentenced to Six Months in Prison for Felony OUI

Contact: Jim Moore
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 945-0373

Bangor, Maine:  United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Justin Bent, 29, of Southwest Harbor, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. to six months in prison as well as three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a total of $2,520 in fines, special assessments and court costs for operating under the influence of alcohol and causing serious bodily injury in Acadia National Park.  He was also convicted of operating a vehicle without due care and destroying trees and other natural resources.  Bent previously pled guilty to these offenses on February 22, 2016.

Court records reveal Bent drove off of a roadway and crashed a van into trees at the Park in May of 2014, seriously injuring a passenger in his vehicle.  Court records also indicated the passenger was transported by life flight to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where he underwent emergency surgery for a bone fracture. 

The investigation was conducted by National Park Service Rangers as well as the police departments of Southwest Harbor and Mount Desert Island.