Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Luke Greenlaw or Sarah Vitale is asked to call Rumford Detective Sgt. James Bernard or Capt.
Dan Garbarini at 364-4551, or Oxford County Sheriff’s Detective Michael
Halacy at 1-800-733-1421. If you have any immediate information, call
911. Do not approach the suspects. 

RUMFORD — Local police and the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department are seeking help from the public in capturing an Augusta couple suspected of stealing several thousand dollars worth of jewelry and electronics from homes in Rumford, Andover and Bethel.

Rumford Detective Sgt. James Bernard said Tuesday that police are trying to find Luke J. Greenlaw, 36, and Sarah Vitale, 28, whose last known address is 122 Riverside Drive.

A wanted poster issued Tuesday by the two agencies stressed that the public should not approach or attempt to apprehend the pair. The couple has been charged in Kennebec County with stealing more than $75,000 in jewelry and other items.

Greenlaw is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighs 180 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes. Vitale is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighs 130 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes. Both are white.

Bernard said the pair are suspects in four burglaries and thefts that occurred between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Jan. 21.

Two were in Andover and one in Bethel. Details on those break-ins were not available. However, another in Rumford netted the thieves between $10,000 and $14,000 in jewelry, less than $100 in cash, and between $250 and $500 worth of electronics, Bernard said.

Bernard said the pair attempted to force their way into another Rumford house, but were either spooked or driven away.

“Their method of operation is to have the female go to a house door, knock, and if someone comes, she would ask if they are selling dogs or if a person lived there who obviously didn’t,” Bernard said of the suspects’ method of operation. If no one answered, the couple would then break in or walk in if doors were left unlocked, he said.

“We’ve established that all four burglaries on Jan. 21 were all connected,” he said.

Bernard said both suspects have warrants out on them from Augusta police and Greenlaw has two warrants along the Eastern Seaboard with full extradition.

“These two suspects are very familiar to the system,” he said.

On Sept. 17, Kennebec County police staking out a Hallowell pawn shop arrested Vitale and Greenlaw when they tried to trade in jewelry at the Timeless Treasures Pawn Shop, according to the Kennebec Journal.

Each was charged with theft of more than $75,000 in jewelry and possessions. Vitale was also arrested on three warrants charging her with failure to appear and failure to pay fines stemming from convictions for criminal trespass and drug possession.

In November, each was indicted on 19 counts of burglary and 17 counts of theft by unauthorized taking.

Vitale and Greenlaw are believed to have broken into 30 to 40 homes across Kennebec County last year, according to the Kennebec Journal.

“I don’t know why they were here,” Bernard said of the Western Maine burglaries and thefts. “There’s been nothing that we’ve been able to establish as a reason about why they were here, other than to support a drug habit.”

Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty told the Kennebec Journal in September there was evidence that the pair were stealing property to support a heavy heroin and crack cocaine addiction.

A Kennebec County Superior Court clerk in the criminal division contacted on Tuesday would say only that Vitale was free on bail. The clerk declined to say anything about Greenlaw or to provide warrant information on the pair.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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