4 men in custody in Va. after break-in

BANGOR – Four men from northeastern Penobscot County remained in a Virginia jail Monday awaiting extradition to Maine where they are accused of stealing a man’s life savings, totaling $150,000.

In addition to capturing the men, authorities recovered about $98,000 of the money stolen from an iron safe in a Mattawamkeag garage. The rest had been used up in what Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross described as “binge spending,” although authorities said they were pleased to recover as much money as they did.

“This is one of those cases that you hope you’ll solve, but you don’t expect to get any money back,” Ross said.

Steven Wade Springer, 18, and Joshua Solomon, 20, both of Lincoln, will each face felony theft and burglary charges, while alleged accomplices Ernest Hugh Norwood, 22, and 19-year-old Joshua Thompson of Prentiss Plantation were each charged with a felony count of receiving stolen property.

All four men remain at Richmond City Jail on fugitive from justice charges. Last Friday, they waived extradition, speeding up their return to Maine, according to authorities.

Meanwhile, officials in Maine said the investigation is continuing, adding that other charges likely will be filed, including charges against individuals who have not been named.

Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department Detective John Trask said the four men and others may have been involved in other burglaries in the region, some involving motor vehicles.

“We fully expect to be arresting more people in this case,” Trask said.

The four men have been in police custody since Sept. 11, when they were arrested at a motel by officers from the Richmond (Va.) Police Department. The four men matched a detailed description forwarded to Richmond police, said Cynthia Price, a spokeswoman for the Richmond police.

Price said Virginia investigators were speaking to the desk clerk at the Marriott hotel when the four suspects walked in on the morning of Sept. 11. Confronted by the police they agreed to let authorities search backpacks in their possession. Money was found inside, police said.

Back in Bangor, officials scrambled to complete the necessary paperwork that ensured the men were held on fugitive from justice charges in Virginia. The process took less than two hours to complete.

Ross praised the cooperative effort.

What police recovered from the suspects had been stolen from a safe on Sept. 7 at the Markie Garage in Mattawamkeag. The burglars broke in through a door, then used acetylene torches to get into the safe where Leon Markie kept his savings.

Authorities weren’t saying how the burglars knew there was a safe with money in it. Trask said he didn’t have any information that Markie was familiar with the four men.

The suspects spent money on friends, clothing or other items, investigators said.

With the case still active and pending prosecution, investigators aren’t saying how they linked Springer and Solomon to the burglary and theft.

The investigation involved around-the-clock work that Detective Bill Flagg described as “turning over every rock and pursuing every possible lead,” including tracking the four men as they made their way south using public transportation and hired transportation, as well as moving from hotel to hotel.