Two middle school students from Bowdoinham are accused of stealing from seven boats on the Cathance River and then bringing the loot – including a loaded flare gun – to school.
The boys, ages 12 and 13, allegedly climbed aboard the boats at Jim’s Smelt Shacks in Bowdoinham sometime between Thursday and Sunday.
They took the flare gun, hand-held flares, fishing poles and lures and a bottle of red wine, said Sgt. Dale Hamilton of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office. The students then brought the items – minus the fishing poles – to Mt. Ararat Middle School in Topsham in their backpacks.
“I don’t think the boys were planning to do anything crazy with these items,” Hamilton said. “The story I got and tend to believe is they were trying to sell them at school.”
A Topsham police officer learned something was up and Monday afternoon detained the 12-year-old, finding in his backpack flares and a flare gun along with charges. That led to information that the 13-year-old, who also had some stolen items, was on a school bus in Bowdoin headed home.
The bus driver was told to pull over and Hamilton arrived to escort the boy off the bus. Inside his backpack was a loaded flare gun, the wine, canisters of butane fuel and some hand-held marine flares. At the boy’s house was a canister of pepper spray along with the fishing poles.
Hamilton said the boys may not have had any intention to use the equipment, but a flare gun is dangerous and fires a round that looks like a shotgun shell but burns hot and bright. It was stored alongside butane, which could be a dangerous combination, he said.
The device used by mariners in distress is not legally considered a gun, he said.
Police are still trying to identify the owners of some of the gear. The boys did not break anything to get into the boats and the value of the stolen items is less than $500, Hamilton said. The boys were charged with the juvenile equivalent of theft by unauthorized taking, which would be a Class E misdemeanor for an adult.
Hamilton noticed that after he took the 13-year-old off the bus and dumped the backpack contents on his cruiser’s hood, students on the bus were jockeying for position to record the incident on their cellphones.
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