Holly Doherty Last Fall – Now Indicted by Grand Jury.

Doherty Last November in Front of Her Washington Avenue Storefront  When It Opened.

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 1,886)

“I’m a hoarder.  It’s a habit I can’t break even though my boyfriend told me I had to.  I had to find a place to get rid of this stuff and this is it,” Holly Doherty, 47, told mhn.com last November when doing a story on her  used clothing store she was opening at 76 Washington Avenue at the bottom of Munjoy Hill.  When mhn.com met her, she was futilely trying to cram mountains of clothing, jewelry, nicnacs, shoes, and jackets, into a tiny storefront that had previously been home to a jewelry designer.

Business owners in the area became accustomed to, but not pleased about racks of clothing items for sale across the front of her storefront. Some wondered why the city allowed her to do this. Prices were cheap, cheap, cheap.  Most of her customers were immigrants in the area and very low-income people.  Sometimes she sold bags of clothes for $1.00 apparently just to get rid of them.  When MHN.com asked why she was not filling out sales slips, Doherty replied:  “I have a good memory.” She was concerned about selling the goods before winter came along and foot traffic stopped.  She said that previously she worked for Goodwill Industries.  But due to an “incident” there, she lost her position.  Because of that “Incident”,”   finding another position was impossible she said.   Most importantly, she told mhn.com that she owned a home cleaning service and produced that business phone number.  In retrospect, she was cleaning people out and probably using this storefront to dispose of the stolen goods and impersonating a public servant.  She has been accused of dozens of crimes in the western part of the State, particularly where she focused on stealing ski equipment at Sunday River ski resort.

Earlier this month, Doherty was indicted by a Cumberland County grand jury for six crimes in Portland.  They included breaking into locked cars and stealing a computer, ski equipment and other items of value.

Mhn.com saw Doherty this afternoon in front of her (former?) storefront on Washington Avenue in which she refused to have her picture taken.

Doherty, a Falmouth resident,  is due in court next Thursday morning.  According to one informed source, she could serve between 3 – 5 years in jail or more.  She has a minor daughter living with her who has serious health issues.

MHN.com wrotea story about her on November 5, 2013 with more information about her.