More details have emerged about the 14-year-old from New Hampshire who allegedly stole multiple cars and broke into camps in Franklin and Waldo counties while trying to evade the authorities.

The teenager was arrested Tuesday afternoon by the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office, which charged him, along with the Farmington Police Department, with multiple felony and misdemeanor offenses stemming from incidents in Waldo and Franklin counties.

The series of incidents began on June 16 when a school in New Hampshire called the Waldo dispatch center, according to a news release from Chief Deputy Jason Trundy, of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.

The school reported that two boys had run away and stolen a car from a nearby town, Trundy said. It was believed that they were traveling to Mary Ordway Road in Liberty, where a relative of one of the boys lives.

Cpl. Greg Jones and Deputy Wiley McVety went to the home, found the two boys and returned them to New Hampshire.

The relative was cooperative throughout the process, Trundy said in an interview.

Advertisement

On Monday, Farmington police contacted the Waldo sheriff’s office about a series of car thefts that had happened in and around Farmington.

The suspect had crashed a car stolen from New Hampshire in New Vineyard and then stole another nearby vehicle to get away. He then crashed that car on Fairbanks Road and stole another, which he abandoned on Temple Road.

Farmington police later charged him with one felony and eight misdemeanors.

The sheriff’s office learned that the New Hampshire teenager had run away again and was a suspect in the thefts, Trundy said.

Jones went back to the home in Liberty and found the teenager, who allegedly ran into the woods when he saw the police. Deputies from the sheriff’s office searched into the night and again in the morning, but did not find him.

On Tuesday at 3 p.m., the sheriff’s office received a report of a possible breaking and entering at a camp on Stevens Pond in Liberty.

Advertisement

Deputy Jon Shaw responded and found that someone had just left the camp. Based on what he found at the scene, according to Trundy, Shaw suspected the New Hampshire teenager was the burglar.

Deputies arrived at the camp along with a Belfast police officer and his police dog. They tracked the teenager for nearly two hours before finding him.

Through its investigation, the sheriff’s office determined that the boy had broken into “at least three separate camps,” stealing various items and causing some damage.

Trundy said he didn’t know what was taken from the camps, but the boy allegedly had broken windows and damaged the buildings.

He also didn’t know why the teenager had run away multiple times.

The teenager was taken to Mountain View Juvenile Detention Center in Charleston.

Madeline St. Amour — 861-9239

mstamour@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @madelinestamour

Comments are no longer available on this story

filed under: