Residents of Maple Street say the neighborhood is quieter after the arrest of a local man accused of drug trafficking who once made headlines for wanting to build a homeless commune.
Michael Tuller, 74, was arrested May 7 at his house on Maple Street. Richard Lee, 26, was also arrested at the property. Tuller is charged with one felony count each of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs and unlawful trafficking of scheduled drugs in Penobscot County Superior Court.
Bangor police responded nearly 100 times to Tuller’s house since he bought it in August 2016, according to police records obtained by the Bangor Daily News through a Freedom of Access Act request. Police showed up for a variety of issues, including disorderly conduct, vagrancy, trespassing and threatening.
In the week since Tuller’s arrest, his neighbors said people aren’t coming and going at all hours of the day, there’s no loud music and there’s less trash on the streets.
Tuller’s arrest last week comes about two years after he made headlines for purchasing 35 acres of undeveloped land in Bradford to create an area where people who are homeless could live. In October 2023, Bradford residents approved a moratorium that temporarily prohibited Tuller and others from building rooming houses, shelters, campgrounds and tiny home parks in the town.
The majority of the 98 police responses, 89 total, have happened since March 2022. Police have responded to the house six times since executing a search warrant at the property that led to Tuller’s May 7 arrest, including twice for property checks, one time for a suspicious situation, and three times for an agency or citizen assist, records show.
The house on Maple Street was placarded by the city and boarded up, meaning it is no longer legal for people to live inside. One neighbor was happy to hear Tuller, or anyone else who lived at the house, cannot return there.
Tuller and others who lived and visited the house were decent about keeping off of neighbors’ property, said one neighbor who declined to give her name. However, there was always a lot of yelling and it wouldn’t feel safe at times, she said.
Woody Higgins has lived on Maple Street for more than 20 years and he said he would call police “on a regular basis” to report violations such as loud music, trash strewn around and cars parked on sidewalks.
Higgins said he was happy watching police search Tuller’s home last week, despite his frustration at the city for taking years to address numerous complaints from him and others.
“It’s been great,” Higgins said.
Tuller’s home on Maple Street is about 946 feet from the Fruit Street School, according to the police report in the court file. That means the house is in the “safe zone” around the school and makes the drug trafficking an aggravated offense, the report said.
At least 6 grams, or more than 270 individually divided bags, of fentanyl were seized by police, according to court records. Police also seized crack cocaine at the house, records said.
Police found a .22 caliber sawed-off shotgun in Tuller’s home, which is a federally prohibited weapon, the report said. The gun was seized by police.
Tuller is in the Penobscot County Jail. He has not posted a $35,000 bond.
