WATERVILLE — Cindy Longstaff wasn’t about to let a burglar escape from her Pleasant Street home without a fight.
She chased the woman down the street, cornered her in a shed, grabbed the computer the woman had taken from her husband’s desk and told her to stay put until police arrived.
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“All’s well that ends well,” Longstaff, 70, the wife of state Rep. Thomas Longstaff, said Thursday. “But I don’t think I’d ever do it the same way again.”
She said she arrived home a little after 12:30 p.m. Wednesday after being away for 25 minutes. She saw that a cellar window had been pried open and a stranger’s sweatshirt and bag were on the patio.
After searching the house, she saw her husband’s laptop was missing from his office desk. She didn’t think twice about heading out the door to find the burglar.
She called 911 and ran down the street in the direction onlookers said they saw a woman fleeing, talking with police dispatchers as she ran.
Ultimately, she spied a woman crouched in a trash shed on School Street by the Albert S. Hall School, talking on a cellphone and holding her husband’s computer. It was her first look at the burglar.
“She was in the shed, hunkered down in the corner like she was hiding,” Longstaff said. “I said, ‘That’s my husband’s computer.’ She said, ‘No it’s not, it’s mine.’ I said, ‘Excuse me, it’s mine. You stay right there.'”
Longstaff grabbed the computer away from the woman, who fled into the bushes.
Within minutes, police officers had cornered the woman on Belmont Street, near the corner of Western Avenue, with help from Longstaff, who told dispatchers where the woman was headed.
“Officers Galen Estes and Dennis Picard confronted her right there,” police chief Joseph Massey said.
Jessica Savage, 31, listed as transient, was charged with burglary, possession of a firearm by a felon and theft, Massey said.
Police said they found an unloaded 22-caliber handgun belonging to the Longstaffs in Savage’s bag when she was arrested. They also found credit cards belonging to the Longstaffs, Massey said.
Savage was unable to make the $1,500 cash bail and was taken to Kennebec County jail in Augusta. She is scheduled to appear in Waterville District Court July 10.
Massey said police don’t believe Savage acted alone. She told police her abusive boyfriend forced her to commit the burglary.
“She related some of the abuse she has suffered at the hands of her boyfriend and one incident that occurred in Waterville last Friday. The officers did notice that she was limping and that she had an injured leg,” he said.
Wednesday night, police arrested her boyfriend, Richard Rice, 48, 243 Main St., Apt. 5, and charged him with domestic-violence assault and terrorizing.
Massey said Rice denies any involvement in the burglary.
“As a matter of fact, he is not cooperating whatsoever, so as it stands right now, the investigation continues to see if there was a link between Mr. Rice and Jessica Savage and the burglary,” he said.
Rice is scheduled to appear in Waterville District Court July 3.
Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey said Thursday that Savage suffered an injury to her left knee and foot she said came from being thrown down stairs at Rice’s residence.
Massey said it’s fortunate no one was hurt.
“This was a very brazen daytime burglary with the potential to end with some serious injury, with the homeowner coming home and surprising someone who had broken into her home,” he said.
He said the department did a good job with its quick response and “keeping the victim on the line and getting directions of where the suspect was going.”
Cindy Longstaff said she had no idea the burglar had stolen a gun and was armed with it when she confronted her in the trash shed.
“She could have stuck it in my face and I wouldn’t have known what to do,” she said.
In retrospect, she said, she should have called 911 immediately when she realized someone was in her home instead of entering it. She also regrets that she did not turn on the home security alarm when she left the house.
Longstaff said she would argue against ever cutting the police force.
“There’s too much crime,” she said. “We need everybody that’s legally able to detain people.”
Meanwhile, Thomas Longstaff, 76, Democratic state legislator and former city councilor, said he is proud of his wife, whom he has been referring to lately as Wonder Woman. They have been married 43 years.
“She is just an incredible woman — she really is,” he said. “Not only is she an incredible woman — thank goodness she’s all right.”
He said it was not the first time the couple were victims of crime.
“We were robbed at gunpoint in New York City once and both of us had our apartments burglarized in New York City,” he said.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com
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