Lebanon man on lam in theft of $2G worth of smokes snared in traffic stop

Brett Waterhouse, Tatiana Gagnon

ROCHESTER - A Lebanon man was arrested on Friday for allegedly stealing more than $2,000 in cigarettes from a Rochester convenience store last June.

City police have had a warrant filed on the suspect for several months, but it wasn't until he was stopped for speeding on Portland Street around 7 p.m. on Friday that they were able to execute the arrest.

Brett Waterhouse, 38, of 76 Jim Grant Road, Lebanon, Maine, was charged with theft from a building, a Class A felony that can carry a 15-year prison sentence.

Rochester Police Capt. Jason Thomas said today police didn't have a good address on Waterhouse and that if he hadn't been speeding he might have still been at large today.

Waterhouse is accused of stealing some $2,058 worth of smokes from the North Main Street Cumby's on June 5. Store personnel never noticed the theft until they viewed surveillance video after which they alerted police who began an investigation.

Police soon identified Waterhouse as the suspect, but had no luck locating him until Friday.

Also arrested during the Portland Street traffic stop was a passenger in the car, Tatiana Gagnon, 33, a transient, of Berwick, Maine, on a fugitive from justice charge.