Jun 26, 2019 2 min read

ELLSWORTH – A parole officer making a routine inspection discovered a moonshining operation in the kitchen of the home of an Ellsworth man serving probation.

The discovery led state police to charge Nicholas Lee Novotny, 31, with illegally possessing and manufacturing liquor in his 16 Hemlock St. residence, court records show.

Novotny was placed in Washington County jail on a probation violation after his homemade still was discovered on a kitchen stove April 3. Charges in the case were filed Friday.

The state police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement entered the case three days later and was told the parole officer found a pot with a clamp on one side atop the stove in Novotny’s residence. There were pliers holding down the pot’s lid and a pressure gauge attached to a coil that drained into a bucket.

The officer said Novotny learned the art of moonshining from the Internet, and that he tried many times to make the liquor. He said his moonshine was not good enough, a trooper noted in charging documents.

Police later seized the still and four jars of moonshine from the residence.

Novotny also was charged last week with unlawful acts relative to liquor. A petition was entered last week in Washington County Court to revoke his probation in a theft conviction, online court records show.