CAPE ELIZABETH — Police last week arrested two York men accused of breaking into the Portland Head Light museum and looting an exhibit.
Adam Ruger, 20, was charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools, theft, aggravated criminal mischief, refusal to submit to arrest, failure to give correct name and failure to notify police of an accident.
Zachary Faskianos, 18, was charged with operating under the influence, burglary, theft and aggravated criminal mischief.
Both men were released from Cumberland County Jail on $2,500 cash bail around 6 a.m. on Nov. 7.
Cape Elizabeth police were alerted to a break-in at the lighthouse museum in Fort Williams Park around 1 a.m. on Nov. 7. When they arrived on the scene, police said, they discovered a window had been smashed and an exhibit had been ransacked.
The suspects were found roughly a mile away, near a Toyota Tacoma that had crashed into a stone wall around 1:15 a.m. at the corner of Shore Road and Stonybrook Road.
“There are pieces of concrete and stone 50, 60 feet away from the crash, so they must have been moving,” said Cindy Talbot, who called 911 when the suspects crashed into the wall outside her home.
Police found a copy of a lithograph depicting Portland’s Central Wharf near the crashed vehicle. Museum Director Jeanne Gross said the stolen lithograph was made for display, and not of great value.
Gross said the break-in caused about $3,000 worth of damage, but that the museum would not require any additional security measures.
“Everything worked the way it should work,” Gross said. “The alarm went off, and the security company called the Police Department.”
Brendan Twist can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or btwist@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @brendantwist.
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Cape Elizabeth police and firefighters inspect the scene where suspects in a robbery at the Portland Head Light museum crashed their truck into a stone wall near the intersection of Shore Road and Stonybrook Road around 1:15 a.m. on Nov. 7.
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