Cops: Three Teens' Escapade Stretches from Maine to Darien in Two Stolen Vehicles

An employee at the Garden Center of Darien became suspicious when three teenagers in a truck parked in the store’s lot got out, went across the street, came back and eventually walked away from the vehicle, headed toward downtown, according to a police report.

That, according to the account in a police report, appears to have been the beginning of the end of an illegal escapade involving a 19-year-old man and two friends — a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl — all from Lewiston, ME.

Police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the matter:

On Nov. 5, the aunt of the 16-year-old was visiting the home in Lewiston where he and his grandmother (his legal guardian) live. He stole her keys and drove off in her Hyundai electric vehicle. He picked up his 19-year-old cousin, and then they convinced another friend, a 13-year-old girl, to come along with them.

Then they headed south.

Now, an electric vehicle, if it’s a hybrid, typically can get good gas mileage, but nothing lasts forever, and this particular vehicle needed gas by the time the trio had reached the New Haven area. They parked the car in a driveway in North Haven and started walking. That night, they slept outside somewhere.

According to the 16-year-old, they found an opportunity for a new ride the next day when, walking further, they saw a 2004 GMC Sierra pickup truck running in front of an autobody shop. The 19-year-old got in and drove it away. He drove up to where the other two were walking, stopped the car and told them, “Get in!” — and they were off, their adventure restarted.

They drove southbound on Interstate 95 until they again started running out of gas, so they left the highway in Darien and parked at the Garden Center parking lot.

They left the truck first to stop at Michael Joseph’s Catering, went back to the truck and then left it again, perhaps because they saw a store clerk had become suspicious of them.

Police were called and, when they arrived at the parking lot, were told the teenagers had already left. Police found them again at Dunkin Donuts — not to wait for a train to stop at the nearby station, but to see if anyone left a car running while they stepped inside the doughnut shop.

(Police say the trio had more than a small chance of finding an easy-to-steal car with just that strategy — people frequently leave vehicles running in front of Dunkin Donuts and at at least one other doughnut shop in town as well.)

An employe at Garden Center returned to the store from the center of town and said he’d seen the three inside Dunkin Donuts. Police went there and found three teenagers who matched the description of the suspects. Police took them all into custody, where the 16-year-old gave the police his account of what happened.

The parents of the two adolescents came and picked them up to return them to Maine. The grandmother of the 19-year-old came down to Darien and took the 16-year-old back with her, as did the parents of the 13-year-old.

As for the 19-year-old, Adam Powell, the grandmother declined to pay the $250 and let him stay. Following an appearance in state Superior Court in Stamford, he remains in custody in lieu of the bond.

He is charged with risk of injury to a minor, a felony, and third-degree larceny, also a felony, according to the Connecticut Judicial Branch website. His next court date is Nov. 24, the Monday before Thanksgiving.