Convicted Concord Thief, Fraudster Faces More Charges

CONCORD, NH – A local woman with a string of other arrests and convictions is in more trouble with the law after police believe they are able to connect her to a car break-in in the parking lot of St. John the Evangelist Church on South Main Street, according to investigative reports.

Rebecca Maines, 41, of South State Street in Concord, was given a summons at 11:53 a.m. on May 12, 2016, and charged with 16 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card as well as theft from a motor vehicle, criminal mischief, and theft by deception.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the name removal request process for NH Patch police reports.

According to a court affidavit, on Jan. 14, 2016, at around 7:30 p.m., police were sent to St. John for a report of a theft of a purse from a vehicle after the window on the vehicle had been smashed.

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The woman called her bank and learned that three of her credit cards were used at Walmart that evening, according to the report.

On Feb. 1, an officer met with an employee at Walmart and she researched transactions on one of the cards. The officer took a picture of two women, one that was allegedly Maines, according to the affidavit.

A few days later, the officer spoke with Maines about the case and she alleged that Steven Ridgeway – a local man who had been arrested involving a number of car break-ins and other crimes – “told her he had just broken into a car in a church parking lot” and allegedly requested that they use the cards “to purchase items they could pawn the next day,” according to the report.

Ridgeway had just been arrested on Jan. 29, 2016, along with an alleged accomplice – Francis Gay – on felony burglary charges. Ridgeway was also arrested in November 2015, for allegedly breaking into cars in the parking lot of Regal Cinemas on Loudon Road.

At Walmart, Maines allegedly admitted that she and Tracy Hebert “went inside and used the stolen credit cards given to them by Mr. Ridgeway to purchase various merchandise,” according to the report. Maines allegedly confirmed her identity and that of Hebert in the surveillance footage, according to the allegation.

Hebert was arrested and charged with felony theft by deception on Feb. 17, 2016.

The officer issued affidavit on May 2, and Maines was served the summons on May 12, while at Merrimack County Superior Court after she was arrested by Merrimack County Sheriffs.

Second Walmart case

The same officer was also investigating a felony theft by deception incident at Walmart at around the same time, according to a court affidavit.

On Jan. 15, 2016, the officer met with a Walmart employee who raised a suspicious returned receipt issue with police. The employee stated that on Jan. 8, a man named Jean Beaulieu returned a sheet set, a bed set, and a bed pad for about $219. He eyed the surveillance footage at the store and allegedly saw Beaulieu and Maines enter the store with no merchandise, according to a court report. He continued to watch the footage and alleged that Maines entered the bedding aisle with an empty carriage and then exited the aisle, allegedly with three bedding items. They both then went to customer service and Maines allegedly returned the items for a gift card and Beaulieu reportedly used his ID for the transaction, according to the report.

“I am familiar with Mr. Beaulieu and was able to identify him as the person in the surveillance footage,” the officer alleged in an affidavit. “Ms. Maines took the gift card from the clerk and (they both) then exited the store.”

Maines, according to the affidavit, has a long rap sheet.

She was convicted of shoplifting in March 2008 in Portsmouth District Court. She was convicted of felony theft by unauthorized taking in August 2011 in Strafford Superior Court. Maines has also been convicted of credit card and identity fraud as well as forgery, according to the report.

The affidavit was filed on Feb. 3.

According to online reports, Maines was arrested in April for criminal liability for the conduct of another in Portsmouth. She was arrested on Jan. 22, 2016, on two felony counts of theft by deception, willful concealment, and two felony warrants, after Concord Regional Crimeline tips came in about an incident in October 2015. In April 2015, she was arrested on felony theft charges and a driving charge after allegedly stealing Red Bull from the Cumbies on North Main Street.