HOULTON, Maine — Three local residents face charges after allegedly making a false report in December about an armed robbery at the Thirsty Dawg, a redemption center and beer store, to hide their involvement in the theft of an undisclosed amount of money.
“Although not a robbery, a felony theft, false public report and unsworn falsification … occurred,” Chief Timothy DeLuca of the Houlton Police Department said in a news release issued Friday.
On Dec. 9, a store employee reported to police that a man about 6-feet tall with a slim to medium build and dressed in a camouflage jacket, black pants, black ski mask and black gloves walked into the store, brandished a gun and demanded money.
The suspect then supposedly fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash taken from the bottle redemption business and the beer store.
But after interviewing witnesses and with the help of area video surveillance equipment, Houlton police Officer Richard York and Detective Stephen Nason determined that the armed robbery story was false.
As a result, Kristin Ganote, 19, Derrick R. White, 27, and Joseph C. Gould, 23, all of Houlton, were each charged with Class C theft by unauthorized taking or transfer.
In addition, Ganote was charged with unsworn falsification and false public alarm or report, both Class D misdemeanors.
A call to DeLuca seeking more information about the alleged crime was not immediately returned Friday.
The most serious Class C charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. A crime is classified as Class C if the theft or property is worth more than $1,000 but less than $10,000.
The incident remains under investigation.
Anyone with additional information regarding this crime or others, is urged to contact Detective Stephen Nason at 532-2287.
