WATERVILLE — A man who allegedly tried to shoplift electronics from Wal-Mart on Waterville Commons Drive fled the store in a car full of items police say were stolen from another Wal-Mart location.
Noah Herrin, 29, listed as a transient from Lewiston, was arrested Monday night at The Big Apple store on upper Main Street in Waterville and charged with felony theft and possession of stolen property. Herrin has at least five prior convictions for theft, police said.
Minutes before Waterville police arrested him, Herrin had fled Wal-Mart after trying to steal two Acer laptop computers and a computer monitor valued at more than $900, according to Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey. The store’s loss-prevention staff called police and tried to stop Herrin as he left the store, but he ditched a shopping cart containing the items and left in a gray 2003 Ford Focus.
Waterville police Officer Kyle McDonald overheard other police units dispatched to Wal-Mart around 6:03 p.m. Monday and saw a car with a suspect matching Herrin’s description on Waterville Commons Drive, Rumsey said.
McDonald pulled the vehicle over in The Big Apple parking lot and Herrin got out and tried to walk away. McDonald stopped and detained him.
In a search of the vehicle, officers found a “large amount” of electronics that were suspected to be stolen, including a 50-inch VIZIO flat-screen TV and a Pioneer amplifier. Officers also found an empty 32-inch VIZIO TV box and a box for an Acer computer that was also empty, Rumsey said.
Contacted by McDonald, the Augusta Wal-Mart confirmed that the items had been stolen from that store and said the thefts were believed to have occurred earlier in the day, Rumsey said.
Herrin was charged with class C theft and class C possession of stolen property. His bail was set at $3,000 in cash, and he was taken to the Kennebec County jail in Augusta.
Class C criminal charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Peter McGuire — 861-9239
Twitter: PeteL_McGuire
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