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Boys on Bikes Linked to 25 Lakefront Home Bulgaries

September 12, 2011 - Belgrade - Five boys who allegedly burglarized 25 homes and seasonal camps in the Belgrade Lakes region were arrested this week and charged with multiple counts of burglary, theft and criminal mischief.

The accused boys, ages 12-15, are from Belgrade, Rome, Sidney and Winslow, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. They have been released to their parents' custody.

Maine State Trooper Diane Perkins-Vance said the boys rode to the properties on bicycle and carried away stolen items in their backpacks.

Some of break-ins occurred in the spring, but most came the past three weeks. The burglarized residences were seasonal homes along Messalonskee Lake, Great Pond and Long Pond.

Only four homeowners, most of whom live out of state, even knew their properties had been burglarized, according to McCausland.

Stolen articles include jewelry, money, household items, a .22-caliber antique rifle, knives, binoculars and cameras.

Perkins-Vance said some property has been returned to the owners, including the rifle; but the money and most of the jewelry remains missing. One of the boys was wearing a stolen necklace when she interviewed him, she said.

The value of the stolen items is said to be several thousand dollars.

"They didn't take the huge items," Perkins-Vance said of the thefts. "They only took what they could take in their backpacks."

Perkins-Vance said a woman in Belgrade first reported she saw two juveniles on the porch of a neighboring camp, and that they fled on their bicycles.

"We actually used canines and went back there," she said. "We took another report of a burglary down the road. The screen was cut and witnesses said they saw kids on bicycles. We interviewed people but couldn't find anything out. It ended up we got a call from Rome, totally unrelated. I had an interaction with a mother and boy as part of a (call about a domestic problem), and she said he had been riding to Belgrade, down camp roads, looking for work. I was aware the burglaries occurred in Belgrade and was looking for kids on bikes. I just put two and two together."

Some of the stolen items had sentimental value, Perkins-Vance said, and were considered irreplaceable by the owners. "There was a couple that had their wedding rings stolen," she said. "They were married 44 years. Those are things you wish you could return to them."

A challenging aspect of this case, she said, was tracking down the camp owners. Perkins-Vance said she had to talk to neighbors and visit town offices to get contact information.

"I spent hours trying to find out who belongs to what residence." She jokingly added, "I haven't had a case of this magnitude, and I'm a little overwhelmed."

The boys are scheduled for a court hearing in December. Perkins-Vance said they were being charged as juveniles.

Mechelle Cooper, Kennebec Journal, September 2011


Lakes: Long Pond
Regions: Belgrade


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