AUGUSTA — The suspect in an Aug. 3 pharmacy robbery in Manchester was arrested at his attorney’s office on Friday after police sought him for more than a week.
Thomas G. Bourque, 31, of Belgrade, was charged about 3:20 p.m. with robbery, theft, stealing drugs and possession of oxycodone, said Sgt. Scott Mills, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office.
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Bourque’s attorney, Ronald Bourget, said he called police to surrender his client at the lawyer’s State Street office. He declined to comment further on the case.
On Friday afternoon, Bourque was held at the Kennebec County jail in lieu of $20,000 bail, Mills said.
On Aug. 20, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Bourque after linking him to the Aug. 3 robbery of the Rite Aid pharmacy on U.S. Route 202.
At the time, Sgt. David Bucknam, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, said the robber demanded prescription drugs in the 12:10 p.m. robbery. He kept a hand in his sweatshirt and said he had a gun, but one was never shown, Bucknam said.
The robber got an undisclosed amount of oxycodone, a prescription painkiller, and methylphenidate, a drug used to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. He then fled the store on foot toward Winthrop.
Kennebec Journal archives show that Bourque has a lengthy criminal record, including a conviction for assaulting an officer and several driving offenses, including operating under the influence and driving to endanger. A sheriff’s official has said Bourque “is known to be a player in the drug game, specifically opiates.”
The suspect was also the only person to survive a 2011 Gardiner crash that killed relatives Dennis Kay, 62, of Gardiner, and Kay’s grandson, Carlton Norwood, 25, of Pittston. All were couriers for a local rental company and Kay, who had a suspended license, was driving the van.
This year, Bourque sued multiple parties, including rental companies and his relatives’ estates, in Kennebec County Superior Court for damages and reimbursement for medical bills. His lawsuit said he is still suffering from physical and mental injuries, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, because of the crash.
One of Bourque’s attorneys in that case has told the Kennebec Journal that he didn’t know whether Bourque had developed an opiate addiction.
The Rite Aid robbery was the first in the greater Augusta area this year and the second time that pharmacy had been robbed since 2011. Since then, pharmacies in Randolph and Gardiner also have been robbed.
No suspect has been caught in the Randolph robbery, but Gardiner police arrested Jesse Mansir, 31, of Randolph, nine hours after he allegedly robbed the Rite Aid on Spring Street on Aug. 21.
Michael Shepherd — 370-7652
Twitter: @mikeshepherdme
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