AUBURN – A car chase that ended on Route 4 early Thursday morning led police to more than a pound of marijuana, a bloody pillow case filled with money and a pair of Lewiston men sitting in their disabled car.

The pursuit also led investigators to the victim of a home invasion miles away who had been bound with duct tape, beaten and robbed of drugs and money.

What started as a routine traffic stop just after 1:30 a.m. ended with two men arrested on robbery, assault and other charges. And hours after those men were jailed, the victim of the attack was arrested on drug charges.

A veteran police lieutenant called it “probably the best case of police team work I’ve seen in my career here.”

Police said it was Steven Piirainen, 41, formerly of South Paris, who led them on a high speed chase through Auburn after robbing and beating the man inside his apartment at 244 Minot Ave.

In the passenger seat was 22-year-old Derek Morrison, formerly of Norway, who investigators say joined Piirainen in the robbery and assault.

The men were arrested at gunpoint after police used spike mats to deflate the tires of their car on Route 4 beyond Lake Auburn. Investigators said both men had blood on them when they were taken into custody. Inside the car were drugs and hundreds of dollars in cash, police said.

“It was obvious they had ripped someone off,” said Auburn police Lt. Jason Moen.

The drama began about 1 a.m. when a police officer spotted a vehicle driving without headlights on Washington Street. Police said the driver pulled to a stop when the officer drove up behind the car but then sped away as the officer approached.

A chase then proceeded down Center Street, with one officer in pursuit and others laying spike mats in the road further along Route 4.

Investigators said a short distance beyond Lake Auburn, the driver attempted to make a U-turn in the road. It was at that point the car ran over the spike mat, deflating some of the tires. Officers swarmed the scene and got the two men out of the car at gunpoint.

Police said they recovered a pound and a half of marijuana as well as other narcotics and money when they searched the vehicle. A pillowcase stuffed with coins and hundreds of dollars in cash was smeared with blood, investigators said.

Officers said they also confiscated a rifle, baseball bat and a set of brass knuckles as they searched the car.

Police believed the two men had either broken into a business or robbed someone. Sgt. Eric Audette began retracing the route the suspects had followed during the chase.

“He went back to where it all began and started looking around,” Moen said.

Audette began looking around Roy’s All Steak Hamburgers, near the area where the chase began, Moen said. There, the officer found 36-year-old Barry Bangs, who was bloodied and bruised outside his apartment behind the restaurant.

Bangs was taken to a hospital where he was treated for his wounds and later released. He was questioned by police and details about the attack began to emerge.

“It just fell together in an incredible way,” Moen said.

Investigators said Piirainen and Morrison busted their way into the 36-year-old’s apartment, seeking drugs and money. They beat the victim with either the bat or the brass knuckles, bound him with tape then went through the apartment, police said.

Piirainen and Morrison were each charged with burglary, robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and drug trafficking. Piirainen was arrested on additional charges of driving to endanger, eluding police and driving with a suspended license.

Moen said police investigating the home invasion found 24 marijuana plants at Bangs’ home. When he went to the Police Department for follow-up questioning Thursday night, he was charged with aggravated cultivation of marijuana.

Piirainin and Morrison were each on probation stemming from prior violent crimes when they were arrested, police said. Each remained at the Androscoggin County Jail Thursday night.

The home invasion and the chase remained under investigation Thursday night. But Moen praised the persistent investigation of the officers who initially responded.

“It’s probably the best case of police team work I’ve seen in my career here,” he said.

mlaflamme@sunjournal.com