POWNAL, Vt. (AP) – A Bennington man who hid from police in the woods for six months has been arrested on burglary charges.

Andrew Lebeau, 36, was taken into custody at a North Adams, Mass., home Saturday.

Police said Lebeau tried to escape through the back door before he was arrested at gunpoint.

Lebeau is accused of burglarizing a Pownal home of more than $17,000 worth of household items last month. He also was wanted in Vermont for an earlier probation violation.

In Massachusetts, he faces a 1989 arrest warrant on charges of car theft, breaking and entering, larceny and unlawful mischief.

Lebeau had been living in the Pownal woods near the Green Mountain National Forest for about six months, Vermont State Police Sgt. Brian Turner said.

“He’s a big outdoorsman, he’s very experienced living in the woods and he’s made shelters out there,” Turner said.

Firearms, food, clothing, computers, mountain bikes, a canoe, yard tools, power tools and other items were stolen from a vacation home in Pownal last month.

The homeowners found a camp in the woods and called police, who searched the woods and located about half of the stolen goods, Turner said.

Turner said police would look for a possible link between Lebeau and a series of burglaries reported in the area near the Green Mountain National Forest.

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Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/

AP-ES-10-30-06 1727EST