MEXICO — Following a monthlong investigation, the Mexico Police Department arrested a 63-year-old Worthley Avenue woman on Dec. 4. She was charged with several local and federal charges related to fraud and insurance deception.

Interim police Chief Roy Hodsdon said Thursday that police arrested Joanne Covais, 63, for violating her probation and subsequently charged her with four counts of Class B aggravated fraud.

Covais was taken to the Cumberland County Jail and later released on bail.

Hodsdon said that police are also looking to charge Covais locally with three counts of Class B theft and insurance deception, two counts of Class D false public report or alarm and one count of Class D unsworn falsification.

Hodsdon said Covais was arrested with the help of her federal probation officer, Matt Brown, after she violated her probation. She was originally on federal probation after a 2011 conviction that found her guilty of fraud and theft.

The investigation into Covais began in November, Hodsdon said, after she reported to officer Rob Drouin that someone had stolen her identity from an out-of-state address and had used her credit card account to make several purchases.

“We looked into the case and found out that the out-of-state address belonged to Covais,” Hodsdon said. “We looked back over the years and found out that since 2004 or 2005 she has filed 15 different complaints of burglaries and thefts.”

“We were able to get a search warrant for a storage unit she was renting in Bridgton and were subsequently able to uncover more deception,” Hodsdon continued. “We found some false documents and fake IDs in there, along with more than 200 different items, some of which hadn’t even been opened yet. There was sheets of granite and marble, televisions, a futon sofa and other appliances, many of which Covais had previously reported stolen.”

Hodsdon said that he and his officers are currently in the process of contacting the different insurance companies that Covais reported the thefts to “in order to see if they’re interested in the items, since they technically belong to them.”

Covais will appear in federal court on Dec. 15 for the four counts of Class B aggravated fraud. Hodsdon said that he and his officers will be aiming to indict her on the six local charges “after the new year.”

Class D crimes are punishable by a sentence that exceeds one year but not three years and Class B crimes are punishable by a sentence between 5 and 10 years, Hodsdon said.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com