By: Ronda Snyder
Maine Journal News was present in Courtroom 1 of the Capitol Judicial Center on Monday, August 30, 2021 at 1 pm for a hearing on cases against Tony Glidden of Mainely Roofing and Siding. Back in the day, my old school shorthand (yes I am that old) was outstanding but I realized I am a bit rusty. I did take down the pertinent information and important comments and quotes from Judge Walker, Assistant District Attorney Murray James (ADA), Attorney of the Day, Justin French (AOD), and of course Tony Glidden (these quotes and comments are accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief). All of the aforementioned except Judge Walker appeared via video conference.
The proceedings went as follows:
Before Glidden arrived in front of the video conference equipment from the Kennebec County Jail, Judge Walker asked the ADA and AOD to confirm they were discussing the correct cases against Glidden.
Judge Walker indicated he had two files. One case is theft by deception (class C felony), home repair fraud (class D a misdemeanor) and violation of conditions of release (class B misdemeanor). The other case is for theft (class B felony), Home Repair Fraud (Class D misdemeanor) and aggravated criminal mischief (class C felony).
The ADA spoke up and indicated there are 4 other active cases. the French indicated he was emailed copies of 2 cases. We waited about 2 minutes for Glidden to make his appearance. When Glidden finally appeared wearing a green jail top with a long sleeve white undershirt beneath, he looked pale and haggard after spending 3 nights at Kennebec County Jail.
Judge Walker began the proceeding by asking “Sir, are you Tony Glidden?” Glidden responded “Yes your honor.” The judged then asked “Mr. Glidden have you had a chance to talk to the lawyer of the day, Mr. French, to talk about your rights?” to which Glidden also responded “Yes your honor.” Finally Judge Walker asked “Do you have any other questions you need to ask him?” Glidden, “No your honor.”
Judge Walker proceeded to read the cases to Glidden. “Mr. Glidden, I have two different files in front of me. I am going to take these one at a time. Both of these are felony cases. They (unintelligible) not gone to grand jury yet. I’m going to ask you if you are aware of these charges and if you’re not I will read them to you. The first case I have is Docket …945 theft by deception class C a felony, home repair fraud class D a misdemeanor and violations of conditions of release a class B misdemeanor. Are you familiar with those charges?” Glidden, “I am.”
Judge Walker asked Glidden, “What are you going to do for an attorney going forward on these cases? Glidden responded “(Unintelligible) Court appointed or I’ll hire one.” The judge then asked if he had met with anyone at the jail to fill out paperwork for a court appointed attorney and Glidden replied that he had.
Judge Walker continued “the other case is a different docket number …339, this involves a complaint charging you with theft class B a felony, home repair fraud class D misdemeanor, aggravated criminal mischief class C a felony. Are you familiar with those charges? Glidden responded, “I am.” The judge asked whether Glidden understood the charges. Glidden answered “I (unintelligble) yes.”
The Judge set both cases for a docket call on May 4, 2022. He reminded Glidden that if his case is presented to a grand jury and he is indicted that he may have to come back to court before that date of May 4, 2022 and asked Glidden whether he understood that. Glidden responded that he did.
The conversation then turned to the bail situation. The Judge asked whether there was an agreement on bail. There wasn’t one and, as such, the ADA spoke first. “I don’t believe there is your honor, the state has requested bail in the amount of $7,500 cash with condition. The theft by deception and home repair fraud cases are taking money from individuals and not doing the paid for work. So it appears what is going on is he is taking the money and using money to purchase drugs. The state would ask that the Court set bail in a high amount of $7,500 cash.”
The defendant in a case just before Glidden’s cases was was for the charged with aggravated assault, intention to cause bodily injury and wonton negligence received only $500 cash bail with no contact conditions, random alcohol and drug testing and no weapon possession. $7,500 may seem low to Glidden’s alleged victims but it appears to be a high amount for bail in Maine.
The Judge then asked the AOD, Justin French, for his thoughts on bail:
French: Yes. My client ahhh Mr. Glidden has no significant record. He works full time as a contractor and while the facts, at least the ones I’ve read in the documentation I was provided today, could point to a scam against homeowners and taking people’s money with the intent not to do the work there is a very important question for the fact finder: Whether there was any intent to this plan or whether this was a contractor who spread himself way too thin, got behind. One person called in and, you know, reported this as a crime and other people caught wind of it by Facebook and started doing the same thing. Long story short Your Honor, he has 7 jobs lined up that he does intend to do the work on. He obviously needs money for a legal defense AND has a legitimate concern, I think, that if he is not let out on bail that some of these other jobs can turn into the same type case. What we would ask Your Honor, is either a higher bail amount such as $10K unsecured or again considering his lack of a record and the fact that all of these cases hinge on a certain same pattern with issues for the fact finder $1,000 cash bail.”
The ADA jumped in and said “Your Honor, if I may Mr. Glidden also failed to appear on Docket …339 on July 20 and $5,000 cash bail no third party warrant was ordered by Judge Dow and on Docket …945 on August 23, a $2,000 cash bail ordered by Judge Stevens.
Judge Walker thanked the ADA and Attorney of the Day French for their in their information. Judge Walker stated “It does appear that there has been several failures to appear recently. The most recent, it looks like Mr. Glidden was released in July on a 1,000 cash bail and ordered to appear in court last week on the 23rd (August) and there was a Failure to Appear noted. The Judge there issued a warrant with a $2,000 cash bail. Apparently, Judge Dow issued a warrant up in Waterville for another Failure to Appear with a higher bail of $5,000 cash. I would like to indicate I do have a record here for Mr. Glidden. Some of it older and some of it is very recent including an OUI in January of this year. It looks like he had Ms. Whittier representing him but also notably there is a burglary and theft conviction back in 2006. Granted that is 15 years old now but apparently there was a probation revocation as part of that case as well. So I am concerned with the Failures to Appear that are very recent and the seriousness of these charges. Obviously there is not a risk to people’s safety as far as their physical safety. Certainly their financial wellbeing is at stake and it appears Mr. Glidden’s life has sort of spun out of control with an apparent drug issue. There are charges involving substance abuse in the past — the recent past as well. I am going to set bail on both of these cases at a concurrent $5,000 cash bail. There will be conditions. NO direct or indirect with the named victims.
Judge Walker continued “Mr. Glidden if you receive word that you have an attorney appointed to represent you, it important that you work with that attorney as quickly as possible and work with him or her to address these cases as quickly as you can. Do you understand?” Glidden, “Yes sir.”
As of this writing, and according to the records of the Kennebec County Jail, Glidden is still listed as an inmate at Kennebec County Jail and doesn’t appear to have made bail. Reminder: Charges do not indicate guilt which will have to be adjudicated at trial.
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**Fact Check**
About 60% of what you said is true, up from you’re previous 30% ! Good job, and they say old dogs can’t learn new trucks. I Was in the courtroom. Funny how, each paragraph you did starts out facts facts and then when you know it’s somthing that would make me look anything but a junked out scam artist you litterlly lie to make it sound good . You have been doing it since you got this hard on for me. Your little persuasive blogs with your one sided garbage litterlly convinced two customers who have paid in full and given us a 5 star review that they should call The authorities. I’m going to win when I go to trail and when I do your getting sued for defamation. I won’t respond again ill see you in May.
** also you should know I have a full time job now serving tables* Mainely is closed and any work still to do has been referred out. You win I lose . Now do use all a favor and retire, have your family put you in a home!
Your friend T
Tony Glidden,
First, you are not my friend. You never have been and never will be. I was there at your hearing and even on video (you weren’t in the actual courtroom) you didn’t look so hot. Second, since I am a female, it would be pretty difficult to get a “hard on” for you. With regard customer who gave you a 5 star review, did you ever complete the work? I continue to keep in touch with folks who refer to themselves as your “victims.” Perhaps you closed Mainely but what about Maine Roof Repair? I see you’re inviting people to like your page under that new name. Bring the defamation suit, because if it’s the truth, then there is no defamation suit. Additionally, I will enjoy the discovery process, particularly the production of documents request to see your books and how much of your income you reported to the tax authorities for Mainely Roofing and Siding along with expenses associated with the the business.
PS. The judge at your hearing in August said your next court hearing is in February not May. You don’t want to miss that one too.
Thank God the only thing I did right was hire a accountant. Do you want his number and you can Donald trump me. You be prepared to see a big number flowed by a bigger number, equalling a loss. We started with nothing and until you and you’re ( mickey mouse page), blog , website.
Please stick to writting and leave business law to lawyers.
*If I still owe taxs when the noise settles, I’ll call you for a loan and you can take it out of whatever we settle at!
Have a good week thanks for the laughs with your update. Zzz 😴
What happened to you bragging about bringing in 1.5 to 2 million in sales from your business? Do you remember all the times you said that? Sure, I’d love the name and number of your accountant. Be sure to give him permission to show us your documentation. At least you admit that you did nothing else right in running your business. Why did you lie about being in the courtroom in August when you appeared via video feed from the jail?
I seriously think this guy is on drugs. He reached out to me after I told him I was filing a police report when he refused to return the money after 3 months, 3 separate “start dates” and ZERO work performed. And when his texts bounced back to me, he claimed he moved and they messed up his land line. Texts….landline? Okay. Then he wondered why I was so upset, after all he “Needed to take a vacation” and I should “try to understand that”…..obviously his vacation was on my dime and my time after I told him on THREE SEPARATE OCASSIONS that I needed to take the time off from work when they did the roof replacement because I WORK FROM HOME and the noise would be too much. Then he fails to show the hell up. That’s a total of 9 days of work I missed ON TOP of the $ I gave him.
I paid him a deposit in June. He never ordered materials. He uses his business name on his Venmo so people think he’s a business, but it’s a personal account – so he gets out of having to adhere to the payment protection agreement. On every step of this process he took a deliberate action and used it to steal money – short and simple. He. Is. A. Thief.
He never did any work. I demanded my money back in late August after his “vacation” diatribe. He refused and produced a (forged) MS Script font signature, on an ESTIMATE (not a contract) of which he spelled my god damned name WRONG. Then he went to jail, for doing the exact same thing to other people.
Upon his release this month this whacko reached back out to me and told me “not to make assumptions” and he “wanted to make it right by doing the job” – as IF I’d let this miscreant anywhere near my home now? Is he HIGH? There’s a police report filed and it was sent to the DA. I sent his emails to the officer who took the report. I told this guy to beat it and I’d see him in court. And now he wants to “finish work” so he can make money to pay off the other folks he’s been ordered to pay restitiution on? He is out of his ever loving MIND.
You should read Tony’s comments on this article…
Oh I did. He’s right straight out of his mind.