Bangor police net burglary suspect Local man charged in car break-ins

One man was arrested this week and others are expected to be charged in connection with burglaries and thefts of thousands of dollars in property across the Greater Bangor area.

The investigation by a consortium of local police departments culminated Thursday with two search warrants issued for two mobile homes at Silver’s trailer park on the Chase Road in Veazie. After executing one search warrant, police arrested Shane Rolfe, 18, charging him with burglary of a motor vehicle, although more charges are expected, reported Veazie Police Detective Andrew Whitehouse.

Another man whose home was searched is also expected to be charged, and detectives said at least two more people likely would be charged as their investigations continue. Their names were not released.

The burglars covered much of the Bangor area, breaking into motor vehicles in Hampden, Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Old Town, Veazie and the University of Maine. The burglars used a spring-loaded window punch to break into the motor vehicles and took what they could find, including CD players, CDs, and radar detectors, as well as larger items found near the vehicles such as tools and a snowplow, reported Whitehouse and Detective William Flagg of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department.

Sometimes they were looking for specific items, having taken “orders” from people and then gone “shopping” through the vehicles, according to investigators.

Flagg said the stolen items were sold at far below market values. Whitehouse said that tools valued as high as $3,000 taken from the Bangor Hydro-Electric facility in Veazie were sold for about $50.

With at least a dozen burglaries reported around the Bangor region, investigators decided to combine their efforts. State troopers, Penobscot County sheriff’s deputies, Veazie police and the University of Maine Department of Public Safety worked cooperatively to solve the burglaries in recent months.

It paid off, and Flagg said that investigators are expected to meet in Bangor Monday to sort out some of the stolen items that were recovered as well as to review other cases to determine whether they are connected to Rolfe or the others.