LEWISTON – Police and federal agents say a 15-year-old boy stole a loaded semi-automatic rifle from a neighbor and hid it under his mattress.
The teen was charged with burglary and theft a day after a Walnut Street man reported an AK-47 taken from his home.
The victim of the break-in called police after he was unable to locate the suspect, a boy he knows, police said.
Investigators said several rounds of ammunition were stolen along with the assault rifle in the Feb. 9 burglary. Lewiston police called for assistance from the Central Maine Violent Crimes Task Force as they began searching for the suspect.
On Thursday, Lewiston police and agents from the task force found the boy and asked him about the gun. Police said the teen admitted to the theft and led them to the weapon, which was hidden under his mattress in the downtown apartment he shares with relatives.
“The gun was loaded when it was stolen,” said Lewiston police Lt. Michael McGonagle. “It was unloaded when we recovered it, but there was ammunition with it.”
The teenager was charged and then released to a relative, police said. The AK-47 was expected to be returned to the man who legally owned it.
Investigators said there was no indication that the gun had been fired. Police did not know what the boy planned to do with the weapon.
The case was being handled this week by Lewiston police for possible prosecution in a local court. The Central Maine Violent Crimes Task Force is a federal agency that often assists area police departments with investigations.
“It was real good collaborative work by the two agencies to get that potentially dangerous firearm off the streets,” McGonagle said.
The AK-47, an assault rifle designed in 1947 and produced by Russian arms manufacturers, is capable of automatic firing. The rifle that was stolen last week was semiautomatic, police said, meaning one squeeze of the trigger would not fire a rapid burst of rounds.
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