Two men have been accused of stealing more than $28,000 of copper and tools from a Portland construction site.
Edward Demers, 42, and Chayne Markie, 23, both of Portland, have been charged with burglary, theft, criminal mischief and refusal to submit to arrest, according to Maj. Robert Martin, a spokesperson for the Portland Police Department. Markie also has been charged with violating his conditions of release.
Demers and Markie allegedly were spotted about 11 p.m. Monday leaving a construction site on Riverside Street, where the city is building a new homeless shelter.
Police officers later found Demers and Markie on a nearby trail system pushing wheelbarrows laden with copper taken from the construction site, Martin said Tuesday.
Officers later found in a parking lot Markie’s truck, which had several battery-powered tools belonging to the company working at the construction site, according to Martin.
The stolen copper was estimated to be worth $20,000 and the tools $8,500.
Demers and Markie were being held at the Cumberland County Jail.
