By Jim Patten
jpatten@eagletribune.com
September 12, 2008 01:21 am METHUEN — When James Caron needed a $7,769 lawn tractor, he spoke with a drug-addicted friend at a dealership and cut a deal to have one stolen. When the man delivered it, Caron said it was too big, bring it back and get a smaller one — and the friend obliged. Caron then asked for another stolen piece of equipment, a $25,000 Bobcat, and he paid his friend $7,000. This is the account given to police by Robert Fregeau, Caron's friend, during a jailhouse interview with police in Brentwood, N.H., in June. This is why Caron was in court yesterday, facing two counts of receiving stolen property over $250. He was released without bail. Caron, the former brother-in-law of fired police Chief Joseph Solomon, told officers in April 2006 that he didn't know the machinery was stolen. He provided officers with a canceled check for $7,000 to pay Fregeau for the $25,000 Bobcat and recalled paying $1,500 cash for the lawn tractor. He said he thought Fregeau was getting an employee discount and that's why the equipment was so cheap. But Fregeau told police Caron specified what equipment he wanted. Fregeau also told police he stole the equipment because he was addicted to cocaine and about to lose his house to foreclosure. He said he needed Caron's money to save his home. "(Fregeau) also stated that James Caron absolutely, without a doubt, knew the property Fregeau delivered was stolen because Fregeau told him it was, and Caron had no problem buying the equipment," the police report stated. Caron bought the equipment from Fregeau in 2001. In 2005, he sold the Bobcat to another Methuen man, who coincidentally took it to the same dealership it was stolen from to have routine maintenance done in April 2006. When the dealership ran the identification numbers on the machinery, it came back as stolen from the business in August 2001 and police were called. When Caron was contacted by Methuen police about the stolen Bobcat, he asked officers to check the number on the lawn tractor to see if it, too, was stolen. When the tractor was found to have also been stolen from the dealership, police seized it. Police Chief Katherine Lavigne confirmed the charges against Caron were related to a criminal investigation that previously involved the FBI. This criminal case led, in part, to the firing of Solomon as police chief. The investigating officer, Sgt. Larry Phillips, maintains he was disciplined by Solomon in part for reporting the case to the FBI after being told not to charge Caron by Lt. Michael Wnek in July 2006. In his report filed in court yesterday, Phillips wrote, "I was informed by Lt. Wnek that Chief Solomon was upset that we had dragged our feet on this investigation and they wanted Fregeau charged in connection with this case, however we were specifically instructed not to charge James Caron." He went on to say, "I advised Lt. Wnek it was my opinion that there was no way that Caron could not have known the property he purchased was stolen ... (Wnek) indicated the order was conveyed by the chief to charge Fregeau and not Caron." On Aug. 24, 2007, Caron received a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury. On that night, Phillips remembers Solomon throwing a tirade at the police station. Phillips said he was put on administrative leave the next day and that his gun, badge and ID were taken away. Phillips testified that he believes he was placed on administrative leave as an attempt by Solomon to keep him from speaking before the federal grand jury. Solomon said he was told of the Caron investigation, but never intervened. He testified that he found out his brother-in-law had been called to testify after putting Phillips on leave. The hearing officer later concluded that Solomon's behavior toward Phillips "directly relates to the grand jury investigation in which Phillips was involved." Fregeau, 34, remains behind bars in the Brentwood jail awaiting trial on charges he stole the equipment. He turned himself in to New Hampshire authorities in June. He told Methuen police he is willing to testify against Caron. Caron, 41, of 298 Renfrew St., was released without bail after his arraignment in Lawrence District Court. Caron remains a "person of interest" in an unsolved fatal hit-and-run accident involving a snowplow in December. Deborah Hoare, 39, of Lawrence was walking home from her job at Burger King in North Andover when she was struck on Route 114. She was found facedown in a snowbank in front of Boston Market and died in an ambulance on the way to Lawrence General Hospital. Caron has denied he had anything to do with the woman's death. He admitted to plowing the nearby Walgreens parking lot earlier in the day, but claimed to be home at 10:17 p.m. — the time the accident occurred. Police Chief John Romero said yesterday that police continue to wait for the results of an analysis of evidence submitted to the state police lab to see if Caron's plow is linked to Hoare's death. Caron refused to comment after his arraignment yesterday.
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