Video surveillance tapes and discarded money bags helped lead police to a trio of men suspected of breaking into more than 25 businesses in central and Midcoast Maine, according to court documents.
An affidavit filed at the Cumberland County Courthouse details the investigation that led to the arrest on Sept. 25 of Michael J. Warner, 37, and Taylor Shultz, 34, both of Biddeford. Both were charged with theft by receiving stolen property.
The third suspect was known to police but had remained at large. Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said early Thursday evening, Oct. 8 that Charles York, 38, had been arrested and also charged with theft by receiving stolen property. Details about York’s arrest were not immediately available.
Maine State Police said multiple charges of burglaries are expected to be filed against all three men.
Bail was set at $100,000 cash for Shultz, who has prior convictions for aggravated assault in 2005, possession of oxycodone in 2006, terrorizing in 2007, and violating conditions of release, according to paperwork filed in court by Assistant District Attorney Hannah May.
Bail for Warner also was set at $100,000 cash, though if he is able to get a contract with a pretrial supervisor, bail could be lowered to $5,000 cash. Warner had been released from prison in May after serving time on multiple convictions for burglaries and thefts from businesses, according to paperwork filed by the prosecutor.
Both Shultz and Warner are prohibited from possessing cutting tools if they make bail, and both will be subjected to random searches to see if they are in possession of burglar tools.
They are next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 15.
Multiple police agencies were involved in the investigation into the multiple unsolved burglaries, according to an affidavit filed in court to obtain arrest warrants for all three.
The case started to break when the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office responded to a July 30 burglary and theft at Tobey’s Grocery in China, according to the affidavit.
The back door of the grocery had been pried open and interior doors were kicked in to reach a filing cabinet and wooden box in the main office where money was kept.
Video surveillance from the store showed two men walking from a park-and-ride parking lot next to the store and breaking into the grocery. The two were wearing camouflage masks and hats. In the video, after the pair leaves, a dark-colored four-door Volkswagen sedan is seen driving through the parking lot.
The Maine State Police were called in because of similar commercial burglaries, in which phone and cable lines were cut before the perpetrators entered the businesses.
Later that day, police were informed that an employee of a Cumberland Farms store in Brunswick had found a blue money bag in the store’s dumpster with checks made out to Tobey’s Grocery.
Surveillance video from the Cumberland Farms showed a Volkswagen sedan pulling into the parking lot, the driver getting out, removing items from the trunk, and walking toward the dumpster. The video then showed him returning to the car without anything in his hands, the police affidavit states.
One of three individuals also captured on video entering the store at that time was recognized by state police Trooper Adam McNaughton as Warner.
Because Warner lives in Biddeford, state police sent photographs of the three to Biddeford police. That department was able to identify Shultz from the photos, according to the affidavit. York also later was identified by police from the video.
A check of the Maine Department of Motor Vehicles found that Warner owned a dark-colored four-door Volkswagen Passat that matched the vehicle seen in the videos from China and Brunswick.
Police obtained a search warrant of Warner’s and Shultz’s cellphone records and found that Shultz’s phone had gone from Biddeford to near Tobey’s Grocery in China at the time of the burglary. The phone was then tracked to the Cumberland Farms store in Brunswick at the time the three men were seen on video.
The arrest warrants were then obtained and Warner and Shultz apprehended. After their arrests, police said multiple search warrants were conducted and stolen property and drugs were recovered. More than 80 items of evidence were seized, according to police. The total value of the items stolen and the damage to the businesses exceeds $200,000.
