AUBURN — Two men police say robbed convenience stores in Greene and Lewiston on Christmas Day were indicted Tuesday on robbery charges.
Stanley W. Laurinaitis, 27, of 37 Glenview Drive, Sabattus, and Tyler Barnard, 25, of 138 Spring St., Auburn, were arrested on Christmas morning, police said.
An Androscoggin County grand jury indicted each on two counts of robbery and two counts of theft by unauthorized taking.
The robbery charges are Class B felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The theft charges are misdemeanors, each of which carries a maximum sentence of up to six months in jail.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department responded to emergency calls at the stores.
The first robbery occurred shortly after 12:30 a.m. at The Big Apple store at 1198 Lisbon St. in Lewiston where a man robbed a clerk after showing a weapon, authorities wrote in a news release.
The second robbery happened about four hours later at the Circle K store in Greene. In that robbery, a man showed a weapon to a clerk and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, authorities said.
After the Greene incident, a Sheriff’s Department deputy passed a vehicle on Main Street in Lewiston that matched the description of the robber’s. The deputy pulled it over.
“The occupants of the vehicle matched the description of the suspects in the Greene incident, as well as the suspect in a robbery in Lewiston earlier in the morning and they were taken to the Lewiston Police Department for questioning,” Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy William Gagne wrote.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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