SOUTH PORTLAND — Police arrested a suspect who is accused of a series of car break-ins, after officers received a tip through Facebook.
According to Detective Scott Corbett of the South Portland Police Department, Joshua Miller, 22, a transient, was charged with receiving stolen property, a Class C crime. Further charges are also possible.
Corbett said Miller was a suspect and had been seen by a member of the department’s criminal investigation unit entering a pawn shop Jan. 26, the day of the arrest, when he sold a camera at the shop. Investigators determined the camera had been stolen from a vehicle in the Sunset Park neighborhood. The name of the pawn shop was not disclosed.
Police found Miller outside a motel on Main Street and arrested him at 9 p.m.
Officers had posted two security videos of a suspect trying to break into a car on Jan. 24 in the Sunset Park neighborhood on the department’s Facebook page, asking the public for help identifying the suspect.
Corbett said a person saw the video and was able to identify Miller, who has acriminal history and was known to police officers.
Corbett said officers discovered evidence inside Miller’s hotel room, which included phones, GPS units and gift cards. He said police are trying to match the evidence with missing items taken from victim’s vehicles.
Corbett said members of the public file police reports if they have had items missing from their vehicles.
He said all reports have come from people with unsecured vehicles and that there are have been no reports of broken windows.
Police reminded residents to lock their vehicles, since most suspects don’t break windows because it turns the crime into a felony.
Corbett said police are still looking for another suspect for another set of unrelated car break-ins.
Melanie Sochan can be reached at 781-3661 ext.106 or msochan@theforecaster.net. Follow her on Twitter @melaniesochan.
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