SKOWHEGAN -- A Palmyra wedding guest will spend 30 days in jail for stealing $1,500 in cash from his friends at their wedding.

Shawn M. Maxfield, 26, pleaded guilty Nov. 5 in Somerset County Superior Court to burglary and theft. He was sentenced to three years in jail, all but 30 days suspended. He will serve two years of probation and pay $2,190 in restitution.

On Aug. 11, 2007, a couple held their wedding ceremony on property in St. Albans, according to an affidavit filed by the Somerset County Sheriff's Office. The couple was staying in a camper on the property, and Maxfield was a wedding guest.

Around 10:30 p.m., he was spotted with his arm reaching through a window of the camper.

When the groom hollered at him, he ran across the field, toward the woods, carrying a denim purse.

Inside the purse was $1,500 in cash, given as wedding gifts. There were other items in the purse, including more cash, bank cards, two bottles of insulin, needles for the insulin, a filled prescription of oxycodone, a filled prescription of Percocet and identification cards, according to the affidavit.

Maxfield was arrested Nov. 16, 2007, and over the next year and a half he incurred three failure to appear charges and was twice arrested on charges of operating after suspension and violating conditions of release.

On May 23, 2009, he was arrested by Caribou police and later escaped from the Caribou Police Department, according to court documents.

Erin Rhoda -- 474-9534

erhoda@mainetoday.com