IRASBURG –– A burglary in Irasburg has led to the recovery of a stolen firearm over a thousand miles away in Mississippi. Police have arrested Joel R. Gouin, 38, in connection with the crime.
The incident took place on January 8 when a homeowner in Irasburg reported a burglary in progress, alerted by a surveillance camera in his home. The subsequent investigation by the Vermont State Police revealed a break-in, with the front door broken and a gun-safe breached. Among the stolen items were nine handguns, including a Colt .45 Commander.
Gouin was identified as a suspect through surveillance footage and other leads. He was apprehended on January 10 following an attempted break-in in Wheelock.
During the arrest, police recovered several stolen items from Gouin’s vehicle, including power tools and prescription pill bottles belonging to the Irasburg homeowner.
Further investigations revealed that Gouin and a female accomplice had previously been welcomed into the victim’s home after their vehicle went off the road near his property. This encounter, initially benign, took on a darker significance after the burglary.
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The case took a turn on February 3, when the Tunica County Sheriff’s Department in Mississippi recovered the Colt .45 Commander stolen from the Irasburg home. This discovery highlighted the rapid and dangerous trajectory of stolen goods across state lines.
Gouin, who pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of burglary in an occupied dwelling, could not make the $25,000 bail set by Judge Thibault and remains in custody.
