PARIS — Two Oxford County suspects charged in a burglary spree that terrorized several small communities for weeks confessed to stealing from 11 homes, according to a police affidavit.
Oxford County Sheriff’s Detective Joshua Wyman wrote that police became suspicious of the suspects, Ashley Howard, 20, of Bryant Pond, and Corey Douzart, 32, of Gilead, after they were caught on camera selling property that had been reported as stolen.
On Wednesday, Douzart and Howard appeared in Franklin County District Court via video conference from the Oxford County Jail in Paris for an initial court appearance. Each are charged with six counts of felony burglary and theft between July 11 and July 17 in Paris, Woodstock and Greenwood.
Howard’s theft charges are misdemeanors because of the low monetary value of the items taken; Douzart’s theft charges were elevated to felonies because of prior theft convictions in Pennsylvania, according to a police complaint.
Wyman said police became suspicious the couple was involved when an off-duty officer overheard a Northwest Bank customer asking a teller if the coins she had just purchased were real or fake.
Police then traced the coins to another man, who said he purchased the coins for $20 from an unidentified man at the Big Apple in West Paris. A clerk at the convenience store also reported buying coins for $20 from the same person.
Video surveillance showed Howard and Douzart selling the coins, which Wyman said belonged to a Woodstock man who had been burglarized.
Police, who said the duo are boyfriend and girlfriend, arrested Howard and Douzart after executing a search warrant on a Cushman Road residence in Woodstock on Monday.
After being read Miranda warnings, Wyman said the duo were cooperative and identified burglary sites. The tally includes eight homes in Woodstock, three on Rumford Avenue and two on Gore Road; as well as the same home on Church Street, struck twice; two homes in Paris; and one in Greenwood, Wyman said.
At one point, police said the couple targeted another Gore Road home in Woodstock, but turned away when they spotted someone sitting outside on a porch.
Items taken included cash, marijuana, coins, cigarettes and a safe, which was later dumped into a river. Police, who are calling for people who suspect they received the stolen property to come forward, also stated victims reported jewelry missing. They estimated the value of all the goods taken could reach as high as $25,000.
Douzart has an active warrant out of Louisiana for his arrest on burglary and theft charges and prior criminal history in three states from drug possession, theft and burglary. Howard was charged with misdemeanor theft in 2013.
Howard and Douzart are scheduled to be arraigned in Oxford County Superior Court on Sept. 10.
ccrosby@sunmediagroup.net
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