Lakeville man accused of multiple thefts

LAKEVILLE — A Lakeville man who is already in prison in Dutchess County is expected to appear at Bantam Court Nov. 14 for burglary charges in Connecticut.Duane Dubois, 52, has been serving a five-year sentence at Mount McGregor Correctional Facility in Wilton, N.Y., since Feb. 15, 2011. He is being allowed out of prison for his court dates in Litchfield County, and is expected to enter his plea Nov. 14. In Connecticut, Dubois is being charged with larceny in the second degree, burglary in the third degree and stealing a firearm, in one case; and with larceny in the third degree in a second case. Each case has a $10,000 bond set even though Dubois is currently in prison.In an interview with a Connecticut State Police officer on March 24, 2010, Dubois said he stole items from homes in the area because “with the current economic times, my family and I have struggled a great deal. My wife is currently unemployed and my 18-years-of-age son, who resides with my wife, is disabled and depends upon me.“A little over a year ago, I got into trouble with my mortgage of my home and am in the middle of a foreclosure modification with the bank. “As a result of my financial situation, I began taking items of value such as small hand tools, power tools, firearms, jewelry and loose change including a jar of change from some of the houses I did service calls at. I took things that I would consider low profile. I stole those things to put food on my table, make car payments and provide for my family.”Dubois was a technician for Taylor Oil and also did construction work and handyman jobs. After his arrest, he agreed to cooperate with police in Connecticut and New York state to try and recall what he had stolen and from where. On the day before an interview March 24 with the Connecticut police (conducted in the Amenia office of the Dutchess County Sheriff), he recalled that he was doing some work at a house on Boston Corners Road in the town of Northeast (which includes the village of Millerton). At the house next door, he said, the garage door was open so “I backed into the driveway and took a backpack leafblower, circular saw and a push-type lawnmower, which was red.”Later that day he went to a house in Millerton. “When I got there, I noticed the side door was open. I went to the back door and there were six guns by the back door and two pellet pistols. I took three of the long guns and the two pistols and put them in my work van. I left three of the guns inside the house and locked the side door and went out the front.”He then went back over to the basement doors and entered the house again and “did the work that I was supposed to do.”The owner of that property said the three missing rifles have a combined value of about $2,400.A week earlier, he said, he had been at a residence in Sharon. “From where I was parked you could see over the fence and see that the door was open to the house. I ran into the house and took a black powder pistol and a powder horn,” some cups that he believed were sterling silver and “a couple of random pieces.”The owners of that home said Dubois took several Tiffany and Co. boxes that held about $50,000 worth of jewelry and a racing bicycle. They described the gun as an “antique Moroccan powder pistol” and said that other items they were missing included a mantel clock, two silver-plated spoons and three brass candlesticks.They said the items had been taken while they were in Florida for the winter; and they said they are customers of Taylor Oil. A few weeks earlier, Dubois said he had been at Boston Corners and had taken some items. “I remember this because I was going to steal a chainsaw from the garage but it was not there. When I was behind the house, I noticed that the back door to the house was open and I noted that someone else had drilled the lock out. I then went into the house and went upstairs to a bedroom and took a small bottle that was about half full of change.”When Connecticut State Police went to search Dubois’ residence on Millerton Road in Lakeville, they said they found more than 160 items that are believed to have been stolen. Most of the items were in the garage. The police also found a pickup truck in the driveway.“In plain view in an open bed of the truck,” according to the police affidavit, “you could see a number of firearms, numerous old wooden clocks, power tools and other household items.”Dubois said in his statement to the police that he kept the things he’d stolen in his garage and said, “I didn’t want my family involved in any of this.”According to a sworn statement taken from his 18-year-old-son by the police, when Dubois was taken to Dutchess County Jail, he called home and spoke to his son.The statement says that Dubois told the son “to take items from the house and put them in the truck and bring them to a safe place.”The son also said that “his father Duane Dubois never told him the stuff he was moving from the house into the truck was stolen.”