Two men and a teen-aged girl have been charged in connection with the February 8 robbery of Bob's Country Market on Benton Neck Road in Benton, Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty said Tuesday.

Raymond Leroy Ellis Jr., 18, of Skowhegan, was arrested Thursday and Jacob S. Smith, 18, of Norridgewock, was arrested Tuesday, according to Liberty.

Both men were charged with Class A robbery, theft by unauthorized taking, criminal conspiracy and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, Liberty said.

A 16-year-old girl from Skowhegan was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, he said.

The robbery occurred at about 10 p.m. Feb. 8, just before the market closed, Liberty said at the time. He said two masked men, one with a baseball bat and the other, with a metal pipe, escaped the store with cash and guns.

The men, described as being about 6 feet tall and wearing heavy jackets, ordered two male clerks on duty to hand over all the money in two cash registers, according to Liberty.

Once the money was turned over, the clerks were ordered to get down on the floor, which they did, and the masked men then smashed a glass counter and stole 10 handguns that were on display.

Liberty said he could not reveal the amount of money taken and no one was hurt in the robbery, reported at about 10:10 p.m. The guns stolen included a Walther P22; a Taurus .25; a Ruger Super Redhawk ,454; several Ruger 9 mm weapons; a Glock .45; Beretta 92FS State Police Commemorative; and a Gemtech Suppressor.

The value of the guns was estimated at more than $6,000, Liberty said.

The day after the robbery, the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office received information from another law enforcement agency that two of the stolen firearms were recovered during a vehicle stop, Liberty said Tuesday.

Armed with information obtained at the scene of the robbery and information received from several other sources, the Sheriff's Office was able to draft two search warrants, he said.

On Feb. 10, deputies from both the Kennebec and Somerset County sheriffs' offices, Skowhegan police and agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, searched a home in Canaan and a home in Skowhegan, Liberty said.

Evidence obtained there led investigators to more suspects, and on Feb. 11, they interviewed several other suspects in the Canaan and Skowhegan areas, resulting in the seizure of another firearm, Liberty said.

More interviews on Feb. 12 led to the eventual charging Tuesday of Smith, who lives on Beech Hill Road in Norridgewock, he said.

Smith currently is at Kennebec County Correctional Facility in Augusta where his bail is $25,000 cash or $200,000 worth of property.

Ellis is at Somerset County Correctional Facility in Skowhegan and is serving 90 days on a previous burglary charge, Liberty said.

The Kennebec Sheriff's Office has four of the 10 stolen firearms and is very close to obtaining the other weapons, according to Liberty. He asked that anyone with information about the case contact the Sheriff's Office at 623-3591.

"Through the tireless work of investigators from several agencies, we have been able to quickly solve this robbery," Liberty said. "This is another case of area law enforcement agencies working together to solve major crimes. The suspects in this case are all now either in custody or have been charged. The motive for this robbery appears to have been to trade the handguns for drugs. This is another example of the impact of opiates on our communities. I commend all law enforcement officers involved in this case for their professionalism and tenacious work ethic."

Amy Calder $ 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com