RUMFORD — A Weld man finishing a sentence in Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn was arrested Monday and taken to a Paris court to face charges from a 2012 break-in at a Rumford church.

Timothy Kyle Flaherty, 20, appeared in 11th District Court in South Paris on Monday afternoon to face charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief.

He is accused of breaking into the rectory of St. Athanasius and St. John Catholic Church on Maine Avenue in October 2012 and stealing approximately $400 in cash from an office.

According to an arrest affidavit from Rumford Police Detective James Bernard, he responded to the church Oct. 8 after an employee reported finding her office window broken and signs that her office had been rummaged through. The employee reported that about $400 was missing from a file cabinet in the office.

Investigators determined that the burglar had broken into the building through the food pantry entrance and used a flat tool to get to the office through several locked interior doors, according to Bernard. 

Police collected papers with what they believed to be blood droplets, as well as broken glass with fingerprints on it, Bernard said. That evidence was sent to the Maine State Police Lab in Augusta for analysis on Oct. 10, 2012, according to Bernard’s affidavit. 

Initial results from the test, which Rumford Police did not receive until more than a year after it was submitted, showed a DNA match between the blood found at the scene and material Flaherty provided as a requirement for probation in an unrelated case, Bernard said.

On Tuesday, Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter said it was not unusual for the state’s lab to take up to a year to return results from a DNA test, particularly for relatively low-priority property crimes.

Using the initial results, investigators obtained a warrant for more of Flaherty’s genetic material, which confirmed the match when it was tested by the state in late November, according to Bernard.

The state lab also returned a fingerprint analysis from the glass fragments collected at the scene that found a match in state records for Flaherty’s fingerprints, Bernard said.

According to the Oxford County Jail in Paris, Flaherty’s bail has been set at a $750 cash or a Maine Pre-Trial Services Contract. He is expected to appear in Oxford County Superior Court in May.