Two boys, ages 10 and 12, were charged with shoplifting Friday.
LEWISTON – A pair of pedaling pre-teens nearly gave police the slip Friday after reportedly leaving a downtown department store without paying for a compact disc player.
Investigators said the local boys – ages 10 and 12-years-old – fled from Sears with the stolen stereo by wheeling off together on one bicycle.
What followed was a police chase that led officers into a wooded area where the children had fled on foot.
The drama started about noon when a Sears employee reported a boy had left the store without paying for a CD player.
A witness said the second boy was waiting outside with a bicycle and that the pair doubled up on the bike and rode off.
Police said the boys wheeled away from the East Avenue department store and headed toward a wooded area near the top of Bartlett Street hill.
Officers who responded to the scene found the abandoned bicycle in the woods near Franklin Pasture.
Cops moved into the woods at different locations searching for the pair. One of the boys was found crouching behind a tree. The other was found moments later.
Officers recovered the stolen stereo and charged the boys with shoplifting. Police were reviewing Sears video surveillance footage as they followed up the investigation.
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