Lincoln police arrested Wayne Buchanan on Monday for allegedly failing to register as a sex offender while living in the town for an extended time.
Buchanan, 71, resigned as pastor of Tremont Congregational Church in 2016 after he was identified as a suspect in sharing child sexual abuse images online. He had also served on the faculty at Grace Evangelical College and Seminary in Bangor and resigned from that position the same month.
He is listed on the Maine Sex Offender Registry as having possessed sexually explicit material of a minor under 12 years old.
He was arrested on Monday at a residence on Trails End Road in Lincoln.
The Lincoln Police Department said Buchanan had told them on April 21 that he intended to register as a sex offender, but a subsequent investigation found that he may have been living in Lincoln for a longer period and had not accurately reported his address.
Buchanan had listed his primary address in the Hancock County town of Osborn. Police said the building there “did not appear to be a viable residence, as it consisted of a small structure not suitable for habitation and showed no signs of active occupancy.”
Interviews and records obtained in the investigation suggested that his primary residence had been on Trails End Road in Lincoln “for an extended period,” police said.
Buchanan was taken into custody without incident and taken to the Penobscot County Jail. He is charged with failure to register as a sex offender (first offense), and unsworn falsification.
