RUMFORD — Police said Tuesday they have a suspect in the theft of a car that left a single mother and her two children without transportation.
Rhonda Breton of Oxford Avenue hopes police will learn who stole her 1993 Honda Civic last week and crashed it into a utility pole about three blocks away.
Breton said Tuesday that the car wasn’t in great shape, but it was her only means of transportation to get groceries or take the children, ages 3 and 7, to doctor appointments.
“My biggest thing is that they took it from me, and inadvertently they took it from my children,” she said.
Detective Sgt. James Bernard said Tuesday that on the night of Nov. 3, Breton’s car was parked on the street across from Breton’s home, with the key left in the ignition and the doors unlocked.
Breton said she did that because it was hard to get the key back in the ignition if it was taken out, and there was no key to lock the doors.
At 1:04 p.m. on Nov. 4, acting Cpl. Lawrence Winson said he found the totaled Civic, which had struck a curb and a mound of dirt before hitting a utility pole.
“Officer Winson came to my apartment and told me my car was totaled and put in impound, and the next morning I went to the police station to ask what the next step is,” Breton said.
She said she was upset to learn police wouldn’t process her car for evidence, such as dusting for fingerprints.
Bernard explained Tuesday that because the Civic was valued at only $660, that made the theft a misdemeanor crime and the state crime lab would not process fingerprint evidence from it.
Bernard additionally said the Civic wasn’t processed “due to environmental reasons,” alluding to interior and exterior conditions and frost on it the night it was taken.
He said Winson interviewed someone on Monday “and got a suspect.”
Police Chief Stacy Carter “did say that if the suspect is caught, he or she will be asked to pay restitution,” Breton said.
Until that happens, she said she’s left to find transportation.
“It wasn’t in good condition, but it got me from Point A to Point B,” Breton said. “Somebody had to have seen or heard someone take it.”
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