CARTHAGE — Gift cards stolen from a Carthage home and used at a Mexico store led to the arrest Saturday of a Carthage man on charges of burglary and theft.

Casey Campbell, 33, was identified by several local police officers from store security at Wal-Mart that showed a male making a purchase with the stolen cards, Maine State Trooper Reid Bond said in a news release.

Campbell was arrested on a felony charge of burglary and a misdemeanor charge of theft Saturday and taken to Franklin County Detention Center in Farmington, he said.

Bond was called at 6:55 a.m. Dec. 28 to a home on Carthage Road when the homeowners reported someone had gone into their home during the early-morning hours and taken a purse. The purse contained cash, gift cards and the woman’s personal information, he said.  A pair of men’s jeans were also taken. These contained about $50 in cash, Bond said.

Sgt. Scott Dalton and his police K-9, Hero, did a search around the home. The K-9 found the jeans and purse a short distance south of their residence on Carthage Road. 

The cash was missing from the jeans, along with a wallet from the purse which held cash, debit and credit cards, gift cards and her personal identification, he said.

Two of the Wal-Mart gift cards in the purse were the woman’s Christmas gifts. Police learned these were used at the Mexico Wal-Mart later in the morning on Dec. 28, Bond said.

Store surveillance was shared with local police officers which showed a man making a purchase with the cards, he said.

Using a search warrant, Bond searched Campbell’s home at 953 Carthage Road Saturday. Footwear was found in the residence that matched impressions made in the snow at the burglary scene, he said.

Several stolen gift cards belonging to the victim, her debit and credit cards and personal identification, were also found in Campbell’s home. 

Troopers Randy Hall, Andrew Hardy and Paul Casey, along with Sgt. Peter Michaud, Sgt. Scott Dalton and Dixfield Police Officer Dustin Broughton assisted Bond with the investigation.

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