Nashua, New Hampshire

From the Nashua Telegraph of May 26, 2006

Burglar chased by teen faces robbery charge

A Hudson teen chased two burglars from his family’s home at gunpoint last year, a prosecutor said.

One of the burglars, Joshua Gagnon, 21, of Nashua, has since been charged in connection with the armed robbery of St. Mary’s Bank in Hudson on April 18.

The other, Ralph Carey, 22, of Nashua, pleaded guilty last year to the Hudson break-in and three other burglaries in Nashua.

Gagnon pleaded guilty to the Hudson burglary and had been scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. However, the case was postponed because he wasn’t transported from the Strafford County jail, where he has been held pending federal bank robbery charges, Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Patricia LaFrance said.

Gagnon and Carey broke into a house on Derry Street in Hudson shortly before 2 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2005, according to court records.

A 16-year-old boy was home, in the basement at the time, and heard them breaking into the house, LaFrance said. The boy went upstairs, and saw two strangers outside, in the rear of the house, apparently trying to force their way inside, the teen told police.

The boy ran up to his mother’s bedroom, took a handgun from her dresser drawer and hid in the bedroom closet, he told police. The boy could hear the burglars rummaging around downstairs, and in time, they came upstairs.

One of the burglars spotted the empty holster on the bed, and remarked that there must be a gun in the house, LaFrance said. Prosecutors believe that Gagnon and Carey, like most burglars, were drug addicts looking for items they could quickly pawn or trade for drugs, LaFrance said.

When the burglars opened the closet door, however, the teen confronted them with the gun, and told them he would shoot if they didn’t back off. The teen then chased the duo from the house, yelling at them, LaFrance said.

“To be truthful, they’re lucky they didn’t get shot,” she said.

Police later tracked Carey and Gagnon down after one of them made phone calls using a cell phone they stole from the house, LaFrance said. The teen identified their photos, she said.