Car burglaries mount in Piscataquis County

SANGERVILLE – The number of unlocked vehicles that have been ransacked for money in the past two months is climbing.

Since November, at least 100 vehicles have been burglarized in Dover-Foxcroft, Greenville, Sangerville, Milo, Guilford and Brownville in Piscataquis County, and in Dexter in Penobscot County.

A rash of burglaries to vehicles also have occurred in Houlton, Millinocket and Bangor.

The latest burglaries happened Wednesday night or early Thursday morning in Sangerville. The owners of 11 vehicles on Mill, School, Main, Church and Pleasant streets reported their cars had been entered and money taken. As with most of the vehicles targeted, they had been left unlocked.

“I think they’re hitting towns that have large neighborhoods where they can make the rounds of several streets in one swoop,” Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin said Friday. “There doesn’t seem to be any time schedule that these people are following.” For example, he said, Sangerville had similar car burglaries in November and the town has been victimized again.

What amazes Goggin and other law enforcement officers is that even with the amount of publicity the burglaries have generated, owners still leave their vehicles unlocked, he said.

Law enforcement officers in Piscataquis County have organized a task force to address and solve the burglaries, according to Goggin. He refused to speculate on whether juveniles are involved in the burglaries. Prescription drugs, money and compact discs have been taken from the vehicles, but items of value have been left behind, too, he said.

Goggin said residents should lock the doors to their vehicles, leave an outdoor light on at their residences if possible, and call local, county or state police if they see anyone out walking late at night or early in the morning, or see any suspicious activity.