WAYNE – A local man is being held Thursday without bail at an Augusta jail in connection to a burglary on Mountain Road in Vienna.

Justin Ross, 36, of Wayne, formerly of East Wilton, was arrested Wednesday on a felony burglary charge and a probation hold was put on him, Sheriff Randall Liberty said in a release. He also faces a misdemeanor theft charge.

The arrest is part of an investigation that involved numerous unsolved burglaries in the area, the release states.

Tens of thousands of dollars worth of stolen items from a snowmobile valued at $10,000 to several flat screen television to decorative pictures were recovered at a Wayne residence and at a location in Livermore Falls, Kennebec County Chief Deputy Ryan Reardon said Thursday.

Opiate addition appears to have been on of the primary motives in this burglary ring, Liberty said

“The initial investigation reveals this burglary ring was extensive and we should be able to clear numerous unsolved burglaries in the area,” Liberty said. “This is another example of the far-reaching impact of opiates on our communities. More arrests are expected in this case.”

Kennebec County Deputy Jeremy Day responded to a report of a burglary Wednesday at the Vienna residence and discovered it had been entered and items had been stolen, Liberty said.

A neighbor had noticed a strange Buick LeSabre in the driveway of the residence at 3 a.m. on Wednesday and recorded the license plate number, he said.

Day went to the home of the registered owner of the vehicle at 186 Main St. in Wayne, also known as Route 133, and noticed several of the missing items in plain view in the vehicle parked at the residence, Liberty said.

Day was given consent to search an adjacent building, which also contained articles from the reported burglary, Liberty said.

Items that have been located have been linked to numerous burglaries in the area, the release states.

Ross, who lives at the Main Street address, was taken to the Kennebec County Correctional Facility. He is being held without bail due to the probation hold.

People at the Livermore Falls location have been very cooperative and had been somewhat suspicious of some of the items brought to them, Reardon said. The items were recovered.

They have been very helpful to law enforcement, he said.

“I do not expect any charges for them,” he said.

There will be charges against others involved, he said.

Ross was previously detained at the correctional facility on Oct. 19, 2012, for escape with $1,000 bail posted.

Ross walked away from a work-release site in Leeds in September 2012. He was nearing the end of a two-year sentence for a domestic violence conviction. The sentence also carried probation that was supposed to end in 2014. Ross was captured in Franklin County three days after he left the work site.

Ross, who has also lived in Otis and Ellsworth, has a varied criminal history, according to the Sun Journal archives.

Once the investigation is concluded, Reardon said, there will be a public viewing of stolen items that have not been identified by owners.

Several law enforcement agencies have been helping the Sheriff’s Department, including the Winthrop Police Department and Maine State Police.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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