2 area men charged in daytime burglaries Pair apprehended trying to steal garden tractor

OLD TOWN – Two men suspected in a string of daytime burglaries in Penobscot County were arrested Thursday morning after they were caught breaking into a garage and taking a garden tractor and other equipment, according to police.

Francis Sprague, 19, of Hudson and Steven Robichaud, 28, of Carmel and Levant already had loaded the large garden tractor, snowblower attachment and mowing deck into the bed of a pickup truck and were heading back into the garage for more when police intercepted them, said Old Town police Sgt. Michael Hashey.

The two were noticed at 10:30 a.m. by off-duty Bangor police Officer Wade Betters who was in the area and thought the men’s activity was suspicious and reported it to police. About the same time, Hashey said, the owner of the home contacted police from work, saying an alarm at his home was going off.

The home on Route 43 was the same one police said the two burglarized in November, taking a tractor at that time as well.

Both men face charges of attempted theft, criminal mischief and two counts of burglary, according to Hashey. The two broke a hasp on a door to get into the garage and used a grinder to cut the locks on another larger door to get the equipment out, Hashey said.

Other charges may follow.

Both men remained at Penobscot County Jail Thursday night.

The Old Town Police Department is investigating other burglaries they now suspect involved Robichaud and Sprague. And they aren’t alone.

Investigators from the state police, Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department and the Orono Police Department were in Old Town Thursday continuing their investigations into at least a dozen burglaries that the two men are suspected of pulling off.