Grand jury hands up indictment in case

POLAND – The search was on Wednesday for a man accused of stealing rings worth more than $6,000 from a family member and selling them to buy cigarettes.

Police were searching for 50-year-old Gerard Laganiere with a warrant charging him with felony theft.

Laganiere, whose last known address was listed as 51 Ninth St. in Auburn, was indicted Wednesday by an Androscoggin County grand jury.

In February, Laganiere was asked by a family member to build some shelves at a home on Birch Drive in Poland, according to a police report. Soon after, the woman who lives there noticed three rings were missing from a dresser in a bedroom.

Police said the jewelry – two engagement rings and a wedding band – was worth approximately $6,200.

An Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy went to a rehabilitation center in Auburn where Laganiere was staying to ask him about the theft, according to the reports. There, police said Laganiere admitted to stealing the rings and selling them for $100 to pay off a debt and to buy cigarettes.

According to police, LaGaniere promised to retrieve the rings and return them to the owner from whom they had been taken. But he was not heard from again and now police across the area are searching for him.

Investigators ask that anyone with information about Laganiere’s whereabouts call their local police department.