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Updated: Video equipment, vehicle reported stolen from UMF campus

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FARMINGTON – Thousands of dollars of video and audio equipment, as well as a vehicle, were reported stolen at the University of Maine at Farmington campus over the weekend. The investigation is ongoing.

Mt. Blue TV reported that thousands of dollars worth of video and audio equipment was stolen from their station in the Roberts Learning Center at UMF. This significantly impacts the studio’s ability to provide coverage and function as a station.

“We work hard to find ways to make a positive impact in the community and, along with a lot of other emotions and feelings, this is a disappointment,” Mt. Blue TV Executive Director Andre Cormier wrote in a statement on social media Sunday night.

Mt. Blue TV is a non-profit organization that provides coverage of sports, municipal board meetings, and other local news. The station also hosts and produces a variety of community television programs.

There are different reasons and motivators that drive someone to commit a crime, and part of what Mt. Blue TV does as a public access station is help local organizations that help address issues in the community and provide support and resources to lower crime and violence in the community, Cormier wrote to the Bulldog. The station will continue to do the best they can to provide meaningful coverage of events happening in the community.

“I also want to say thank you to the law enforcement agencies that are helping to find those that committed this crime so that they can be held accountable, and to thank the many people that have reached out to offer support, both with things like loaning equipment and just to let us know that we are supported in this community,” Cormier said.

Multiple other classrooms and offices in the Roberts Learning Center were burglarized and vandalized over the weekend, according to a report from UMF.

In addition, a green 2015 Subaru Forester with Maine registration 9339XD was reported stolen from UMF Parking Lot 11 near Abbott Park.

April Mulherin, associate director of media relations for UMF, shared the following statement on behalf of UMF Police Monday morning: “We are working in cooperation with the Farmington Police Department and other Franklin County law enforcement agencies with developing leads and locating all persons of interest in these cases.”

Tuesday morning, following an ‘extensive’ search and investigation in collaboration with Farmington Police and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, UMF Police announced that two juveniles were charged with theft and criminal mischief in connection with the burglary and theft of equipment from Mt. Blue TV and the stolen motor vehicle. Both juveniles are 14 years old.

The stolen items have been recovered and returned to the rightful owners.

The investigation is on-going and additional charges are pending.

Please contact the UMF Department of Public Safety/Campus Police with any information, at 207-778-7400.

 

This story has been updated.

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