A 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old face multiple charges in connection with a string of burglaries and a robbery over the past few weeks, according to Portland police.
Travis Vo, 19, no address, is suspected of breaking into the Cigarette Shopper at 263 St. John St. on Jan. 28. Vo also allegedly robbed the Cumberland Farms store on Pine Street in the West End on Dec. 28.
Vo was arrested following a confrontation with officers, police said.
In addition, Vo and the 17-year-old are suspects in a burglary at a home on Washington Avenue in which an AR15 semi-automatic rifle and a Beretta handgun were stolen. Portland police said Vo also broke into a warehouse owned by Mercy Hospital on Fore River Parkway.
Vo’s associate was arrested during a confrontation Saturday near the Dunkin’ on St. John Street, Lt. Robert Martin said.
Officers spotted the suspect at the coffee shop – the teen had been reported missing by his family – and kept him under surveillance as he walked across the street to an Amato’s restaurant. When officers closed in, the juvenile fled and dropped a 22-caliber semi-automatic handgun in the parking lot. He was apprehended a short while later in possession of $4,000, pills and a digital scale, police said.
Portland police found the stolen semi-automatic rifle hidden along railroad tracks off St. John Street. The serial number was altered, but the department’s crime lab restored the number.
Detectives are still collecting evidence and statements, according to Martin, and police expect to file additional charges against Vo and the juvenile, who is being held at the Long Creek Youth Development Center. The boy has been charged with receiving stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon and refusing to submit to arrest.
Vo has been charged with burglary, theft, robbery and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon. He was being held Monday at the Cumberland County Jail on $50,000 cash bail.
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