The attorney for Christopher Knight, the 'North Pond Hermit' will be in court this week, appealing an order that would force his client to repay the Maine State Police for the destruction of a road.

Knight has gone along with all other aspects of his punishment, including serving seven months in jail for multiple counts of burglary and theft, attending and graduating from the mental health court, and paying nearly $1,900 restitution to his victims. But his attorney, Walter McKee, says the police restitution order is unreasonable.

His client is ordered to pay $1,125 to the Maine State Police as restitution for the destruction of a road that was built to allow investigators access to the camp he had built for himself in the woods. But the BDN reports, McKee argues that restitution is only to be paid for someone who suffers an economic loss. In this case, he claims, the police were only doing their job (for which they were already being paid) and so his client should not have to pay, as well. He says the restitution order was not related to the charges against Knight.

However, Kennebec County Assistant District Attorney Emily Collins disagreed in her brief to the court. She says the needed environmental cleanup of the site was a direct result of Mr. Knight living there for more than two decades. "Mr. Knight's offenses were, in fact, the cause of the costs incurred."

Christopher Knight will not attend the hearing scheduled for Thursday in Machias. Officials say he is currently employed, but will not disclose where he's living or working. Knight had lived alone in the woods for more than 27 years, and survived by stealing. He admitted to committing more than 1,000 burglaries in the North Pond area, at local camps, including the Pine Tree Camp for Children and Adults with Disabilities.

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