Police: Duo stole $3,750 in cigs

A pair of Springfield residents — one of whom is in high school and has a separate felony charge pending — denied charges Tuesday they broke into a convenience store and stole thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100522/NEWS02/5220355/1003/NEWS02

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100522/NEWS02/5220355/1003/NEWS02 # # # # Police: Duo stole $3,750 in cigs • Rutland Herald • By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: May 22, 2010 • WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A pair of Springfield residents — one of whom is in high school and has a separate felony charge pending — denied charges Tuesday they broke into a convenience store and stole thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes. • Jason F. Reed, 20, and Michael Marrone, 16, pleaded innocent Friday in White River Junction District Court to felony charges of burglary and grand larceny, and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful mischief. • The charges carry a combined maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. • According to affidavits filed with the court, Springfield police responded about 2 a.m. Tuesday to reports of the sound of breaking glass at the Mobil station at the intersection of Route 11 and River Street. • When they arrived, police found the glass to the front door broken, cigarettes scattered on the floor and a trail of packs of cigarettes out the back door and along a foot path leading to the Westview housing development, police said. • Police later reviewed the surveillance tape and saw two males enter the store, and while one man held a bag open, the other filled it with cartons and packs of cigarettes, records state. A store employee estimated the thieves made off with about $3,750 in cigarettes. • Wednesday afternoon, a man came to the Springfield Police Station and said he and a female friend had given Reed and Marrone a ride the previous night, records state. • The man told police the two asked for a lift to the Westview area, asked the driver — the woman — to wait, and returned 20 minutes later out of breath and carrying bags full of cigarettes, according to affidavits. • The woman verified the man's story, with both telling police they had no idea what Reed and Marrone had planned, police said. • Thursday, Reed walked into the Springfield Police Station and said he had heard the police were looking for him but did not know why, affidavits state. • However, when questioned, Reed reportedly admitted he and Marrone had robbed the store, police said. Reed spent Thursday night in the Springfield prison and after pleading innocent was released on conditions he not contact Marrone or the man and woman who spoke with police, and that he observe a nightly curfew. • Marrone's arraignment wasn't as simple. • He is already facing a felony charge of larceny for allegedly robbing three students as they walked home from the high school. • Judge Robert Bent asked the defendant's mother, Caresa Marrone, if she was having trouble disciplining her son. • "Lately, he comes and goes as he pleases, that sort of thing," Caresa Marrone said. "I drive him to school. I drop him off. I watch him go inside and later I get a call he's not there or he's wandering the halls." • When David Cahill, Windsor County's deputy state's attorney, proposed a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, Caresa Marrone asked Bent to set her son's curfew at 6 p.m. Bent agreed, and also set Michael Marrone's conditions of release to include attendance at school and that he follows his mother's rules. • "I hope the message is being sent to Michael that he is on thin ice," Bent said. •