LEWISTON – Vandals ransacked a downtown flower shop late Wednesday, smashing vases, dumping water and stealing hundreds of flowers and electronic equipment.

A few hours after the break-in at Val’s Flower Shop, police tracked down two suspects investigators said carried the stolen loot to an apartment just a few buildings away.

On Thursday, 35-year-old Manuel Beargeon, and 34-year-old Troy Haydon were in jail on charges of burglary and theft.

Police said the two men met recently at a downtown homeless shelter. Beargeon came to Lewiston from Fall River, Mass., police said. Haydon is from Washington state but had been staying with a woman on Pine Street.

When Val’s owner Maurice Fontaine first saw his store after the break-in, he was unsure if he’d have his business running again in time for Valentines Day.

“It was trashed,” Fontaine said.

The burglars stole a computer, cellular phone, an answering machine and a calculator among other electronic equipment, Fontaine said.

They also made off with more than a hundred roses, a couple hundred carnations and other items such as ceramic teddy bears.

The missing items were enough to cripple Fontaine’s business. But he said the suspects also cut a telephone line, overturned buckets of water and smashed pottery all over the place.

“It was an act of vandalism, there’s no doubt about that,” Fontaine said. “There’s no need of that. I don’t know what their motive was.”

Lewiston police Sgt. Adam Higgins said Beargeon and Haydon kicked in the front window at the 115 Pine St. business at about 9:30 p.m. After ransacking the place, the two men carried the items just a few buildings away, to 89 Pine St.

When investigators went to that address shortly before midnight, they found Beargeon and Haydon there with the stolen items. Both men were arrested and taken to the Androscoggin County Jail. Police then rounded up all the stolen items and contacted Fontaine.

“Everything was recovered and returned,” Higgins said.

Fontaine and his employees got the computer hooked up again.

They had their telephone and answering machine back as well as the calculator. The flowers were not salvageable so they ordered more. By 9 a.m. Thursday, Val’s was back in business.

“The cops did an excellent job,” Fontaine said. “We should be able to get through Valentine’s Day like nothing happened. We’re tired but we’ll survive.”

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