BY BETTY JESPERSEN

Staff Writer

Police on Friday identified two suspects in a conspiracy to steal cars and rob stores in the Farmington area this week.

The plan was botched when two of the owners of the five cars stolen reported seeing their vehicles being driven off. In the process of a police chase, a cruiser was deliberately rammed and an officer injured, police said.

Arrest warrants were issued Friday afternoon for Robert Lacroix, 22, of Clinton Avenue in Winslow for passing a roadblock, a felony, and theft by unauthorized use of property.

Police are also looking for Jacob Hastings, 20, of Penn Avenue, Augusta, on warrants for reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, a felony, and theft by unauthorized use of property. Hastings was released last week from Maine State Prison in Warren on a charge of armed robbery.

Hastings allegedly drove into a Wilton police vehicle operated by Officer Nathan Reid on Route 43 Tuesday night. Reid was attempting to use a spike mat to stop one of the stolen vehicles as it was being pursued by police.

Franklin County Sheriff's Lt. S. Niles Yeaton said arrests are anticipated as the investigation continues.

According to Detective Tom White, a crime spree started Tuesday evening when Hastings, driving a green Jeep Cherokee taken from a residence in Augusta, drove to a home in West Farmington to rendezvous with several other men involved in the scheme.

The Jeep was taken to Clover Mill Road off Route 43 in Farmington where the men then stole a Chevrolet pickup truck parked in a driveway with the keys inside, White said.

The owner, however, saw his truck being driven off and at 10:53 p.m., called police.

"Turns out the truck was not running well so they ditched it," White said.

The men then drove to a remote part of Route 43 known as Intervale Road to a home where they took a Jeep and a blue van, also with the keys left inside, he said.

Again, the vehicle's owner spotted them and at 11:16 p.m., he called police. He said he saw them heading north where Route 43 ends in a dead end and pretty soon, he told dispatchers the cars were heading back.

By that time, Deputy Sandy Burke was setting up a road block on Route 43 but the cars went around him.

"Then the chase was on," White said.

Deputy Michelle St. Clair set up another road block and was nearly hit, White said. The driver of the stolen Jeep then slowed down and fled. The car hit a utility pole and the fleeing man was immediately picked up by the van.

At about 11:15 p.m., the van was speeding toward Reid's cruiser on Route 43 with its headlights off and rammed the patrol car as Reid was trying to back off the road. He suffered minor injuries.

The crash sent the van flipping over several times but the occupants still managed to climb out and flee into the woods. One man lost his shoes in the collision and was in his stocking feet, White said.

Two of the county's K-9 teams followed the trail but lost the scent when the men got into two more stolen cars on Varnum Pond Road and Iisalo Road, police said.

One of the suspects became separated from the others and ended up walking for miles on a woods trail until he reached Route 4 in Avon, White said.

"He showed up in a guy's yard and said he had been in an accident. He got a ride to Beal's Store in Strong where he made a call and someone picked him up," the officer said.

Evidence recovered in the stolen vehicles and examined at the Maine State Police Crime Lab in Augusta was connected to a break-in at 3:30 a.m. at Rick's Market on Depot Street, White said.

Betty Jespersen -- 778-6991

bjespersen@centralmaine.com