A Winthrop man is facing charges after reportedly breaking into a home and stealing Build-A-Bear gift cards that he later used to buy his wife a present.
Justin Lebourdais, 29, is charged with burglary and theft in connection with a Dec. 19 burglary at a Morton Street home. Winthrop Police Detective Peter Struck arrested Lebourdais Thursday after executing a search warrant at his home. Lebourdais, who made his first court appearance last week, was being held Monday at the Kennebec County jail in lieu of $250 cash bail with a Maine Pre-Trial contract.
Several items, including a handgun, jewelry, electronics and a lime green T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Gymnast,” were stolen during the Morton Street burglary, Struck wrote in an affidavit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court. The thief also made off with eight Build-A-Bear gift cards worth a combined $125.
The victim called police three days after the burglary to report that five of the Build-A-Bear gift cards had already been used. Police contacted the company, which asked police to get a search warrant for information on those purchases. The company said it would take about a week to gather the information, Struck wrote.
A Build-A-Bear representative on Dec. 30 told police that four of the stolen gift cards were used in conjunction with other gift cards to order a bear online. The order, placed on Dec. 21, was to be sent to Lebourdais’ wife.
In the meantime, police were called on Dec. 26 to respond to a second burglary at the same Morton Street home during which additional items, including coins and tools, were taken.
Struck visited a local jewelry store to see if anyone had turned up to sell to the store any of the stolen material. The owner said Lebourdais brought in silver coins the week before, Struck wrote.
“He told her that he had purchased a box at a yard sale and the coins were in the bottom,” Struck wrote.
Lebourdais also told the owner that he had gold necklaces to sell, but was “holding onto them until the price of gold went back up.”
The owner said she had not reported the purchase because she trusted Lebourdais, Struck wrote.
Struck, a day after the second burglary, contacted the owner of the Morton Street multi-unit apartment building where Lebourdais lived and asked for the trash from the building to be brought to the Winthrop Police Department. Struck and Winthrop Police Officer Paul Ferland went through the trash and found in one of the bags a piece of mail addressed to Lebourdais at his home. Ferland found in that same bag a piece of paper with Build-A-Bear’s phone number written on it. Ferland also found in the same bag six Build-A-Bear gift cards. Police later determined the card numbers matched those stolen from the Morton Street home.
Two days later, on Jan. 1, the owner of the local jewelry store called Struck to report that Lebourdais had sold her earrings for $12 and had asked to borrow another $28, Struck wrote. Lebourdais reportedly told the owner he needed the money because someone had broken into his car and stolen his wife’s pocketbook with all their money.
“He also told her that the police had searched his apartment and that he had been cleared from the burglaries on Morton Street,” Struck wrote. “He told her the police had searched a bunch of residences on Morton Street and did not find any of the stolen property.”
Police searched Lebourdais’ apartment New Year’s Day and found stolen electronic equipment and a pawn slip for other stolen electronics, Struck wrote.
“He said that he did break into the (victim’s) residence and take those items,” Struck wrote. “He denied taking the firearm.”
Craig Crosby — 621-5642
Twitter: @CraigCrosby4
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