Deputy loses gun to car thief

SOUTH PORTLAND — A Cumberland County Sheriff’s Deputy will not face disciplinary action after losing his firearm to a car burglar in South Portland Friday.

Cumberland County Chief Deputy Sheriff Naldo Gagnon declined to name the deputy in question Monday, other than to say he has “close to 20 years’” experience with the department. The deputy left his loaded 40-caliber Glock handgun in the center console of his personal vehicle, Gagnon said, because his children, all under age 10, were staying with him at his Ferry Village home that evening.

“He is within policy,” said Gagnon. “There is no discipline to be issued.”

Department policy, said Gagnon, calls on a deputy to be sure his or her weapon is “secured and out of sight.” Putting the firearm in the center console and locking the car doors meets that requirement, he said.

Gagnon could not say exactly how entry was gained to the deputy’s vehicle, but said no windows were broken.

“It [the vehicle] was locked and it was entered,” he said.

Friday’s incident marks the third time in 20 months that a Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy has had a department firearm stolen. About eight months ago, Gagnon said, another deputy had a service firearm stolen from the locked trunk of his vehicle while at a police training event in Tennessee. Then, in late 2010, the Raymond home of another deputy was burglarized. In that case, the thieves got the weapon by ripping out the wall safe in which it was stored.

“It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t, no matter where you keep the darn things,” said Gagnon. “If a locked car is not secure and if a vault in a home is not secure, you tell me what is. Burglars and criminals will go to great lengths to do their dastardly deeds. I don’t know where you would draw the line and still have an officer’s weapon readily accessible should he need to take action.”

Gagnon said the sheriff’s department will review policy, to see what changes might be appropriate, but did not predict any immediate changes, even as he admitted the deputies were starting to lose their weapons with uncommon regularity.

“You just don’t hear of this kind of thing and as to why we’ve had three in the last year and a half, it’s just mind-boggling,” he said.

According to South Portland police Sgt. Steve Webster, the most recent theft occurred early Friday morning. It was, he said, the latest in a stick of car break-ins near the Southern Maine Community College. There have been “four of five” such incidents in that area over the past week, he said.

Within 12 hours of the incident, Webster issued a grainy photograph captured around 5:20 a.m. Friday at an ATM on Commercial Street in Portland. The image showed a “relatively young” white male using a credit card allegedly taken from the deputy’s vehicle, along with his gun, badge and law enforcement identification. The public’s help was actively solicited in locating the man, further described as having “a thin build . . . wearing a dark colored Champion sweatshirt, dark sunglasses, a white shirt under the sweatshirt, and a baseball cap,” along with a pair of Easton batting gloves.

Portland police later picked up Jarrod Howell, 21, for questioning as a “person of interest” in the case. “He was interviewed and subsequently released” without being charged, said Webster.

Gagnon said his department is assisting South Portland with the investigation.

“We have a very big interest in this,” he said. “Our officers are talking to each other on this, like, twice a day.”

Meanhile, Webster is asking that anyone with information about the car break-ins or the firearm theft call police at 874-8575.

“Obviously, someone knows something,” he said. “If anyone knows anything, please give as a call. We’d love to get the gun back and catch this guy.”