HALLOWELL — A Hallowell man is being held on $10,000 bail following his arrest Monday on burglary and theft charges.
According to the criminal complaint filed at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta, Jedediah Wasilewski, 44, broke into a Water Street building in Hallowell and took several items, including an antique gramophone — a record player — valued at more than $1,000, and damaged the building.
Because it was Wasilewski’s initial appearance, no plea was entered.
In his probable cause affidavit, Officer Noah Lebel of the Hallowell Police Department said when he was dispatched to 330 Water St. early Monday for a report of a burglary, he found a broken window with a distinctive cowboy hat lying on the ground next to it and some red-brown stains on the floor. Inside, he found a liquor bottle with a cigarette butt in it and some broken items.
“The MO (modus operandi) of this burglary was consistent with another burglary that occurred several days prior at the Hallowell Antique Mall, with a suspect, Jedediah Wasilewski, charged with possession of the stolen goods,” Lebel wrote.
Lebel said he tried to make contact with Wasilewski at his home at 321 Water St., but was told Wasilewski was not there and had not been there since Sunday night.
Not long afterward, Lebel wrote, deputies from the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to Farmingdale, just south of Hallowell, where several burglaries were reported that were similar to the Hallowell burglary.
Lebel said he and Christopher Giles, Hallowell interim police chief, headed to Farmingdale, where things found at the site of a break-in included items taken during a burglary at 330 Water St.
At the site of a second break-in, antique coins believed to have been stolen from the Hallowell Antique Mall were found, along with a bottle of liquor of the same brand found in the Hallowell break-in, and a well-preserved boot print.
Lebel said he was headed to the site of third reported burglary in Farmingdale when he stopped to check a church on Maine Avenue for damage. There, he saw Wasilewski coming out of the woods. Lebel noted the man had injuries to his hands consistent with glass cuts.
Lebel said Wasilewski initially gave him a false name, but eventually identified himself and he was arrested.
According to Giles’ affidavit filed at the Capital Judicial Center, the boots worn by Wasilewski matched prints found at the site of the break-ins, and a pocket watch identified as stolen from the Hallowell Antiques Mall was found in Wasilewski’s backpack, as were two coins that were packaged similarly to those identified as stolen from the antique mall.
Wasilewski is now on probation following his 2015 conviction on a robbery charge in Richmond. His probation officer authorized a probation hold.
Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy set bail at $10,000 and imposed several conditions on Wasilewski, including that he have no contact with the owner of 330 Water St. in Hallowell.
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