Tuesday, May 22, 2012
AUGUSTA
Kennebec Journal Staff
AUGUSTA -- A local man accused of breaking into dozens of storage units made his first court appearance Tuesday.
Lance M. Szady, 22, of Augusta is charged with 49 counts of burglary, theft and criminal mischief in connections with break-ins at storage units in Winthrop, Augusta and Manchester, Augusta police Detective Vicente Morris said.
Szady was already facing charges in connection with a June robbery at a Capitol Street drug store.
Kennebec County Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills on Tuesday set Szady's bail $10,000 on the new charges.
Szady has been held at the Kennebec County jail on $25,000 bail on the robbery charge.
The new charges against Szady stem from dozens of burglaries at local self-storage facilities reported over three days in May.
More than a dozen of the burglaries occurred in Augusta, at facilities on Leighton Road and West River Road. Investigators have tied Szady to break-ins at self-storage units in Winthrop and Manchester, Morris said.
Augusta, Winthrop and Maine State Police worked together on the investigation, Morris said.
Szady is facing a total of 49 burglary, theft and criminal mischief charges -- including 21 counts connected to the Augusta burglaries, 20 to Winthrop and eight to Manchester.
Szady has acknowledged burglaries in all three communities, Morris said.
The listed victims are not the storage facilities but the people and businesses that rented the individual storage units, including the Maine Department of Transportation. The stolen items included jewelry, checks, golf clubs and a propane stove.
Szady was one of two men charged in connection with a June 13 holdup at the Capitol Street CVS.
Szady and Thomas Ware, 30, were charged with robbery after a white male entered the CVS and showed the pharmacist a note demanding Oxycontin.
"No weapon was ever displayed," Augusta police Detective Sgt. Matthew Clark said at the time.
Detectives eventually connected Szady and a black Volkswagen Jetta to the robbery, Clark said.
Augusta police Detectives Jason Cote and Morris found the Jetta eight hours after the robbery and pulled it over on Windy Street.
Szady, who was still carrying Oxycontin when arrested, was a passenger in that vehicle, Clark said.
Ware posted $1,000 unsecured bond, and that bond was released Tuesday after no complaint was filed against him in Kennebec County Superior Court.
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