LEBANON, Maine — A Berwick woman is being held after allegedly breaking into a convenience store Saturday morning, trying to open a safe by driving a car over it and then leading police on a high-speed chase.
Tatiana Gagnon, 33, was charged with burglary after a break-in at the Hometown Mobil on Route 202 in Lebanon, according to Maine State Police. All other charges will come by way of indictment through the York County district attorney’s office.
Gagnon faces numerous other charges as she is a suspect in three other motor vehicles thefts in Lebanon as well as Rochester and Dover, New Hampshire, according to police.
The incident began at 4 a.m., when Trooper J.B. MacDonald responded a report of a burglary alarm at the store. When the trooper arrived, the officer found the side door had been smashed and a safe removed.
Witnesses reported to police seeing a small blue sedan with New Hampshire license plates attempting to run over the safe.The safe became lodged under the car and eventually became dislodged on North Rochester Road.
Surveillance footage identified the vehicle as a blue compact car with a lone female occupant. At approximately 6:20 a.m., while police were at Hometown Mobile, MacDonald saw a vehicle fitting the description turn off Route 202 onto Hubbard Road traveling toward Berwick. This information was relayed to Sgt. Kevin Rooney who was in the area looking for the vehicle.
Rooney later found the vehicle on Hubbard Road in Berwick, where he attempted to stop the vehicle. Gagnon led Rooney on a high-speed pursuit on Hubbard Road, Gradar Lane, Pine Hill Road and finally Ridlon Road, where the officer executed the “precision immobilization technique maneuver” to end the chase.
Gagnon was taken into custody by Rooney and Officer Eli Poore of the Berwick Police Department who assisted with the pursuit.
Gagnon was taken to Southern Maine Health Care in Sanford, where she was evaluated and cleared for incarceration at the York County Jail in Alfred. Bail was set at $10,000.
The Dover and Rochester police departments also assisted.