Melvin Searles is a resident of Chester's Mill, Maine. He is friends with Junior Rennie, Frank DeLesseps, and Carter Thibodeau.
On 20 October 2009, he and his friends beat up Dale Barbara in the parking lot of Dipper's Roadhouse, leading to Barbara's attempted exodus from Chester's Mill. The next day, Jim Rennie, Andy Sanders and Andrea Grinnell agreed to offer Searles, as well as Junior, DeLesseps and Thibodeau, jobs as temporary police officers.