Man charged in one convenience store break-in, suspected in at least one other

LACONIA — A Gilford man suspected of being involved in a spate of lottery ticket thefts from area convenience stores was being held Monday after being charged in the most recent break-in.

Marcus Brouillard, 25, of Sargent Place, was arrested Saturday and charged with breaking into the Budget Gas convenience store early Thursday morning. Bouillard is also facing a charge of having more than $1,500 of lottery tickets in his possession. Police also charged him with falsifying evidence and resisting arrest.

Brouillard waived formal arraignment in Belknap Superior Court on Monday. Judge James D. O’Neill set bail at $3,000 cash. The judge ordered that, if Brouillard comes up with the bail money, he cannot be freed until he proves to the court that the funds do not come from a disreputable source.

Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield said Brouillard is a suspect in the burglary at the Kwik Stop store on Union Avenue that occurred early Wednesday morning when lottery tickets were also stolen. Canfield added that there have been a number of similar burglaries recently and that police “are working to connect them all.”

Police estimate that $2,000 worth of lottery tickets were taken from Budget Gas and another $1,300 worth from Kwik Stop.

Meanwhile, Gilford police are investigating a break-in on July 26 in which “a lot of scratch tickets” were stolen from the Gilford Square Market & Deli, 18 Weirs Road (at the intersection of Routes 11 and 11B), Gilford Detective Sgt. Chris Jacques said Monday.

Laconia police were tipped off to Brouillard early Friday morning by an anonymous caller who said Brouillard was at the Cumberland Farms store on Court Street with a “bag full of lottery tickets,” according to a police affidavit.

Officers went to the Cumberland Farms where they found Bouillard, who gave police a false name and date of birth. When police attempted to take Brouillard into custody, he fled with one handcuff on his wrist.

Police soon traced Brouillard to an apartment on Academy Street, where he was on a second-floor porch, talking on his cell phone and was overheard saying, “Sold him a bunch of scratch tickets and they must have been stolen,” according to the affidavit.

Police found Brouillard’s backpack in a trash can outside the apartment. After obtaining a search warrant, they examined the bag and found 166 lottery tickets.

The informant told police that he had met Brouillard just last Wednesday when Brouillard approached him at the McDonald’s restaurant on Union Avenue and asked if he could use the man’s cell phone. In return, Brouillard said he would pay the informant “in money or lottery tickets,” the affidavit states. Brouillard then friended the man on Facebook. The informant said he learned that the man, who at first he knew only as Marc, was Brouillard when he checked the Facebook account.

The informant said he then received a Facebook message from Brouillard at 1:46 Thursday morning that read, “over on the WOW Trial by the old skate park about to hit a store.”

Police told the manager of Budget Gas, at 280 Court St., that they estimated the break-in there occurred between 3:30 and 3:45 a.m.