Maine News Updates

BIDDEFORD – A 28-year-old man faces a robbery charge after he allegedly held up a CVS pharmacy for oxycontin pills.

Kyle Desmarais of Biddeford was arrested at a local motel at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, about four hours after the alleged hold-up, Biddeford police Chief Roger P. Beaupre said.

According to Beaupre, a dispatcher received a call last night in which a man claimed to have seen two men force two women into the back of a van on Hills Beach Road, near the University of New England. The man said his cell phone was out of range and cut off the call.

A patrol officer and the shift supervisor headed to the road where the abduction reportedly took place, but the supervisor told other officers to maintain their normal patrols. Meanwhile, the dispatcher tried to identify the caller and eventually tracked the cell phone number to a heating and cooling business in Las Vegas.

The owner of the company told the dispatcher that the cell phone had been issued to an employee who was originally from Biddeford and had been fired from the company.

Then, about 9:30 p.m. Monday, workers at the CVS pharmacy said they had been held up by a man who showed a gun and demanded oxycontin, making off with 300 of the pills.

A detective watched the store's videotape and contacted relatives of the man who had been identified by the Las Vegas business owner. One relative said the man was staying at a local motel with his girlfriend.

Officers showed up at the motel about 1:30 a.m. They said Demarais ran out the back door of his unit, right into an officer who was stationed there.

Beaupre said Demarais admitted that he had committed the robbery and said that his girlfriend, with whom he was sharing the motel room, wasn't involved.

Police recovered all but 20 of the oxycontin pills, Beaupre said.

"His parting words were, 'You guys are pretty good. I figured it would take you at least a few days,' " Beaupre said.

Demarais faces a class A robbery charge, Beaupre said, which can result in a sentence of up to 20 years.