AUBURN – A Lewiston man was charged Sunday morning with felony burglary and theft in a slew of storage unit break-ins in Lewiston and Auburn, according to Deputy Chief Tim Cougle.

Shain Johnson, 38, was charged by Auburn police with Class C burglary and Class C theft, felonies punishable by up to five years in prison.

Lewiston police also charged Johnson with one count of Class C theft.

Cougle said Auburn police received a call Dec. 26 that someone had broken into a storage unit rented by a local automotive retail shop at Bear’s Self Storage.

According to an employee at the automotive shop, approximately 88 alloy wheels with an estimated value of $9,000 were stolen from the unit.

The same day, Destiny Sierra of Lewiston told Lewiston police someone stole several items from her family’s storage unit at Easy Self-Storage at 11 North Lisbon Road, including a Yamaha off-road motorcycle, a snowblower, tools and tool boxes.

Cougle said that on Saturday morning while patrolling the area of Bear’s Self Storage, officers saw a U-Haul truck with the reported stolen items in plain view in the cab.

After police got search warrants for the U-Haul and two storage units at Bear’s Self Storage, they located several items stolen from Lewiston and Auburn storage units.

Cougle said detectives learned the location of the stolen alloy wheels and recovered them.

“Other items believed to be stolen from surrounding jurisdictions were also located in the storage units,” he said.

“This investigation is ongoing and more charges and arrests are likely,” Cougle said.

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