Portland school intruder appears in court Wednesday

PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) - The man accused of entering a Portland middle school on Monday morning and offering a student a hypodermic needle appeared in court Wednesday.

A judge set bail at $200 for 43-year-old Jacob Horwitch.

Charges against Horwitch include criminal trespass, violation of privacy and refusing to submit to arrest, all misdemeanors.

His conditions of release include no drugs or alcohol in his possession, he’s not allowed on private or public school property, and he can’t set foot within 1,000 feet of King Middle School.

“This is pretty serious. We hear about people going into the schools all the time and bad things happen. Here’s an individual who, according to a student, who said, and the state has no reason to believe she’s lying, he’s offering needles to these young girls, and that’s dangerous, that’s scary, and I’m sure it impacted that community and I’m sure the kids in that school are pretty scared now,” said a Cumberland County prosecutor.

During a school board meeting Tuesday night, school officials said Horwitch entered the school through a side door that a teacher had left propped open while students had class outside.

Horwitch’s lawyer says he’s been living at Amistad, a peer support and recovery home in Portland, for the last two months.

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