JONESPORT, Maine - After six months of investigation, Maine State Police apprehended two 16-year-olds last week who allegedly confessed to burglarizing 16 homes in Jonesport.
“It took a lot of police work to catch these guys,” said Trooper Barry Curtis, who headed the investigation. “We had quite a few names to work through.”
The burglaries took place over six months near Kelley Point Road in Jonesport, according to Curtis.
“They would just start looking around houses and take small things like alcohol and food,” said Curtis. “They said they were bored.”
Curtis said police were using shoeprints left at the scenes and were collecting DNA evidence for the case. Police obtained the juveniles’ names with the help of people from the town.
“The parents weren’t too happy with their little darlins,” Curtis said.
Curtis noted that some residents were so upset about the break-ins that they wrote letters to the governor about the situation. Discussion of the burglaries made it to the Town Council’s monthly meeting agenda.
“The town is frustrated, and I can understand why,” said Curtis, who said in an interview last month that low resources were drawing out the investigation.
Charges were pending but Curtis expects the juveniles to be charged with burglary, criminal mischief and theft.
Troopers Staci Carpenter and Andrew Foss assisted with the investigation.
The juveniles were released to their parents’ custody, and police are looking into keeping them under house arrest.
“We are going to push it to the limit to keep these guys from wandering around,” said Curtis.