CASCO — Police arrested three people in two states Tuesday for their alleged involvement in two armed home invasions in Casco early Tuesday morning.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, Massachusetts State Police, acting on information from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, stopped a vehicle on Interstate 90 in Sturbridge, Mass., according to a release from Capt. Don Goulet of the sheriff’s office.

Dylan McPhee, 20, from the Casco area, and 19-year-old Olivia Patricia Pope, whose address was not available, were arrested. They are being held pending a hearing and extradition to Maine.

Massachusetts State Police charged the couple on fugitive-from-justice warrants, Goulet said Tuesday afternoon. He said the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office would charge them with robbery and aggravated assault.

A third suspect in the alleged incidents, 21-year-old Merwan Machhout, was arrested Tuesday evening in Fryeburg, according to WMTW-TV, Channel 8.

Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office deputies went just after 3 a.m. to a Brown Road home where residents reported a woman had knocked on the door saying she needed help. When the homeowner opened the door, two men — one wearing a mask — forced their way into the house, Goulet said.

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Both intruders were armed with handguns, Goulet said.

The nephew of the homeowner, who lives in an attached apartment, went to investigate and called 911, prompting the suspects to leave.

No one was injured, and Goulet said nothing was taken from the home.

Deputies then responded to a New Road home where the same scenario had unfolded, but that time, the men “pistol whipped” the male and female homeowner, tied them up and gagged them, according to Goulet.

The victims could not call for help until they got loose. When deputies arrived, one of the individuals — Goulet did not identify which — was taken to Bridgton Hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Goulet declined to identify what property was stolen from the home.

McPhee was identified as one of the suspects. He also was wanted on an outstanding warrant for violation of bail. Goulet characterized the original offense as “weapons related.”

Goulet said the sheriff’s office has responded in the past week to a number of calls he described as “out of the norm” involving individuals “known for thefts and burglaries,” and those cases appear drug-related. But he said it is unclear whether Tuesday’s robberies were drug-related.


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