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Three juveniles from Orono and Old Town were charged with the theft of a car, bicycle and other items.
On Sept. 20 at 12:15 a.m., a 1995 green GMC Yukon was spotted on the bike path behind University Park.
Public Safety officer Amy Nickerson was making her rounds when she noticed the vehicle parked on the path. When she activated her cruiser’s lights, the driver drove ahead more than 30 yards before leaping out of the still-moving vehicle, according to Sgt Chris Gardner.
Nickerson gave chase, but stopped to call for backup and a K-9 unit. The dogs, however, were unable to track the suspect because of the heavy foot traffic in the area. The Yukon ran itself into a ditch but wasn’t seriously damaged. The driver’s side window already had been smashed and there was a bicycle left in the back, said Gardner.
The theft of the Yukon was the last in a series of burglaries that began only two hours earlier. Three teens from Indian Island, Old Town and Orono had been checking the door handles of cars in various parking lots. One entered the vehicles, took property and handed it out.
“The other two teens were really just lookouts,” University of Maine Public Safety detective Jeff King said. According to King, they stole loose change, cigarettes, CDs and portable CD players from more than 15 vehicles, most of which were unlocked and have gone unreported.
Upon reaching the Stewart lot, they saw the locked Yukon and were tempted by the keys in the ignition. They broke the window, started it up and headed down the bike path. They got stuck in a ditch at one point, got themselves out and continued on to do doughnuts in a field, according to detective Sgt. Chris Gardner.
The bicycle that was left in the back seat led the police to a possible juvenile suspect and they conducted numerous interviews on Friday, Gardner said. “The teens admitted to entering 15 motor vehicles campus wide,” the police chief said.
That evening a 15-year-old male from Indian Island was arrested and charged with failure to stop for a police officer, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, criminal mischief and four counts of burglary of a motor vehicle.
Another male, also 15, from Old Town was summonsed on Monday on charges of receiving stolen property and violation of probation. An 18-year-old Orono High School student was charged Tuesday with burglary and receiving stolen property.
Gardner encourages anyone who thinks they might be missing property to come forward, because Public Safety has recovered all of the stolen items, including well over 300 CDs, many of which were never reported missing.
“Most people, when they find some cigarettes missing or some loose change probably think nothing about it, so it hasn’t been reported,” King said.
Public Safety stresses that students need to try to conceal any valuables they leave in their cars.
“It’s clear that they look first, then break in,” Gardner said.
Public Safety said students should be vigilant and report suspicious behavior.
