ELLSWORTH – Three men charged in connection with the thefts of more than $30,000 worth of lobsters from five Down East towns last summer have been indicted by grand juries in Hancock and Washington counties.

Stephen Grant, Christopher Poore and William Tozier are accused of stealing 25 crates of lobsters worth $16,000 from Inland Seafood in Milbridge last July 27.

The three also are suspected of lobster thefts at Green Head Lobster Pound and the Stonington Lobster Co-op, both in Stonington, and at North Atlantic Lobster Sales in Addison, according to court documents.

The three men also are accused of stealing lobsters in Beals and Gouldsboro during the same two-week period in late July, Hancock-Washington County Deputy District Attorney Carletta Bassano said Thursday.

A Hancock County grand jury in Ellsworth indicted each of the men Wednesday on charges of theft, burglary and conspiracy to commit theft.

On Thursday, a Washington County grand jury in Machias indicted each of the men on a charge of burglary, Bassano said.

Bassano said all of the men were indicted in Hancock County with conspiracy to commit theft because they are believed to have operated as a team, even if they all were not at every burglary.

“The three weren’t always together at the same time,” the prosecutor said.

The lobsters stolen in Milbridge and Stonington were worth roughly $30,000, Bassano said. She said she was not sure of the total dollar value of all the lobsters stolen in the five towns.

A dozen crates of lobsters weighing about 1,000 pounds and worth $4,500 were reported stolen last summer from North Atlantic Lobster Sales in Addison, police said at the time of the burglaries.

Twenty crates of lobsters valued at $16,000 were reported stolen from Green Head Lobster Pound, while six crates were reported stolen from the Stonington Lobster Co-op.

Some of the purloined crustaceans were eaten and given away, Bassano said, but most are believed to have been sold in the Portland area.

Tozier, 31, is a resident of Windham, according to law enforcement officials. Grant, 20, is a resident of Machias, and Tozier’s brother Poore, 23, resides in Otisfield.

Police have said Tozier allegedly used a U-Haul rental trailer to deliver the lobsters stolen in Milbridge to Bob’s Seafood in North Windham on July 28. Poore was given a $4,588 check in exchange for the lobsters, according to police.

Bob’s Seafood has not been implicated in any wrongdoing in connection with the burglaries.

Bassano said the men allegedly once dumped the creatures loose into the back of a pickup truck before they drove away. None of the lobsters stolen in any of the five towns were recovered, she said.