WATERVILLE — Waterville police believe a rash of car burglaries in Waterville over the weekend were committed by the same individuals who went on a similar spree last week.

Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey said his officers were narrowing down their list of suspects in at least 14 vehicle break-ins in downtown Waterville last week.

“We’re working on a couple of leads right now, but we do feel that all the car break-ins were committed by the same group of people,” Massey said in an interview Monday.

Massey said he believes two to three individuals were likely responsible.

Waterville Police received calls for five car burglaries last Thursday and another nine vehicle break-ins starting early Saturday morning. The most recent series of burglaries were reported on Dunbar Court, Edgemont Avenue, Oak Street, Johnson Heights, Fairmont Street, Elmwood Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue.

As in Wednesday’s spree, burglars did not break into any locked vehicles over the weekend, instead targeting cars with unlocked doors parked in driveways and on streets. The thieves rifled through cars, taking mostly change, cigarettes and other obvious loose items before moving on. In many instances, they simply left car doors open to avoid making noise.

Massey said officers were methodically working through a list of suspects using a process of elimination. He said police had been successful in identifying and arresting suspects in similar sprees in recent years though he acknowledged that the process could take time.

“This is one of those aggravating crimes that occasionally we get hit with throughout the years,” Massey said. “We’ve been successful in the past and we usually solve them, but unfortunately by the time we do that, many times there’s just a lot of victims.”

Massey said he did not know if the break-ins were related to nearly a dozen car burglaries in Fairfield last week though he said his department would be in contact with Fairfield Police. As officers work to address the break ins, Massey again urged residents to lock their car doors, even in driveways, remove valuables from their vehicles or store valuables out of sight.

“You can save yourself a lot of grief,” Massey said.

Kate McCormick — 861-9218

kmccormick@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @KateRMcCormick