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North Pond Hermit finishes court program in Maine

Christopher Knight stole food, clothing and camping gear from homes while living as the North Pond Hermit.AP/File

AUGUSTA, Maine — A man who lived as a hermit in the Maine woods for nearly three decades before being arrested on theft and burglary charges has finished a special court program.

Christopher Knight stole food, clothing and camping gear from homes while living as the North Pond Hermit for 27 years. He was arrested in April 2013.

He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of burglary and theft and served about seven months in jail before entering the court program in October 2013.

Knight attended a hearing Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court and will begin three years’ probation.

Attorney Walt McKee says Knight has been working for his brother in exchange for room and board. He says Knight is participating in a vocational rehabilitation program to develop skills for a regular job.

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The Boston Globe wrote about Knight’s life of solitude and larceny in a 2013 story. Knight told police he had lived undetected in the woods, spoken to only one person in 27 years, and not made a single purchase since the mid-1980s.

But Knight knew how to steal, authorities said, and how to stay hidden even though his tent lay within 600 yards of the nearest cabin.

Such was the singular world of the man dubbed the North Pond Hermit by the long-spooked residents in Rome, Maine, where Knight is believed to have committed more than 1,000 burglaries for food, fuel, tools, and clothing since he left a computer-technician job and retreated to the forest.