JAY – Police arrested one adult and three juveniles this week on charges of breaking into a man’s home and stealing thousands of dollars worth of guns and coins, Detective Richard Caton said Tuesday.

Police were notified last week that a Ludden Drive home owned by a 75-year-old man had been burglarized after his two grandsons found it ransacked on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The man, whom police have asked not be named, spends his winters in Florida and was not at home when the burglary happened, Caton said.

When police arrived to investigate, they found the window in the door that connects the home’s garage to the house broken, but found no forced entry into the garage. Inside the house, they found blood and shoe prints. They also learned three .22-caliber rifles, two 12-gauge shotguns, and one .22-caliber revolver had been stolen, along with a computer, the man’s antique coin collection, a safe, power tools, and liquor.

One of the man’s grandsons – a minor – was a suspect in the crime right from the start, Caton said, because his shoes and a cut on his hand matched up with evidence found at the scene. The teen confessed to taking part in the burglary when police asked him to come in for DNA testing on Saturday.

The confession led police to 18-year-old Shane Morse, of Jay. Police found much of the stolen property in the trunk of his car.

“(Morse) said he really didn’t have any idea what he was going to do with (the goods),” Caton said. “He had lost his keys to the car and was unable to even get into the truck.”

Besides stashing loot in the trunk of his car, Morse and the three juveniles also threw the stolen computer and possibly the safe into the Androscoggin River off Riley Road. They ditched the computer because they were afraid it would be traceable, Caton said. Its tower, keyboard, and speakers were located Tuesday, and divers have been called in to locate the safe, Caton said.

All four were charged with burglary and theft, a Class B felony, Caton said. The teen who confessed to the crime was not arrested, but Morse and the two juveniles were.

One of the juveniles said when the burglary happened, the four had run out of alcohol and had initially gone to the house to get more. When they got there they decided to take the guns, coins, tools and computer, too, he said.