Two juvenile males were identified as suspects in a string of vehicle break-ins Friday after Skowhegan police, with the help of Somerset County Sheriff’s deputies, executed a search warrant at a Pooler Street home of one of the males.
This Somerset County Sheriff’s Office vehicle was on of several that have been burglarized in Skowhegan. Skowhegan Police Department
Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam said Saturday that Skowhegan police have been investigating a string of vehicle burglaries on Pooler Avenue over the last several days. During the execution of the warrant Friday, they found a number of items, including a 1911 semi-automatic pistol, apparently stolen from those vehicles.
Also stolen from Pooler Avenue was a Dodge Charger that was later found crashed in the woods in Palermo in Kennebec County.
On Thursday, police received a report around 5 a.m. that a marked Somerset County Sheriff’s Office truck was broken into while parked on Pooler Avenue, and a number of items were taken, including a deputy’s jacket, hat and flashlight, and duty bag with police equipment such as an automated external defibrillator and medical supplies, but the computer was not.
Pooler Avenue is a short, semi-rural street that runs between South Factory and Chamberlain streets in a neighborhood in south Skowhegan.
Bucknam said a resident reported seeing two youths break into the vehicle. That information, along with some grainy security camera footage from a camera damaged in the course of one of the burglaries, helped the police identify the suspects.
The 16-year-old male was arrested on three felony charges of burglary from a motor vehicle, three felony charges of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer, one felony count of aggravated criminal mischief, one misdemeanor count of theft and two misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief. He was taken to the Somerset County Jail Friday night and then transferred to the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.
The 17-year-old male is on probation, Bucknam said, and his probation officer has been contacted.
Bucknam said the investigation is continuing.
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