Two suspects faced a judge Thursday after a burglary and an hours-long standoff in Woodstock.
State police have arrested two suspects in a burglary in Woodstock that led to evacuations and road closures.
State troopers responded to Woodstock Road in Woodstock just before noon on Wednesday after a bystander saw two men who were carrying baseball bats approach a residence and go through a window and into the second-floor apartment.
They met with a woman, who said no one else was inside, but then let them know that three other people were inside, state police said.
She said two men came through a side window and had a baseball bat and a handgun.
State troopers attempted to have the three people come out of the house.
They said Reuben Field, 39, of Putnam, came out of the residence and after several hours and was taken into custody.
Hours later, Mark Racine, 37, of Willington, came out through a window, ran toward the trees and was taken into custody, state police said.
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Troopers determined that Field and Racine had traveled to the residence in a stolen motor vehicle.
David Mulvey called police when he noticed something was off at his neighbor’s home.
“When I called the state police, it was a matter of just a couple of minutes and I could hear sirens,” Mulvey said.
He said he saw three men walking around the home, as if they were looking for someone.
“All three of them went into that righthand side and went into the house. Two of them had baseball hats from what I could see,” he said. “Once they started messing with that window, I said, 'I’m gonna have to call state police, that’s it.'”
According to court documents, Field and Racine entered through a second-floor window. A woman and a man were home at the time, and the woman said she asked why they were in her home.
“You know what we’re doing here,” is what she told troopers one of the men said.
She said they were likely looking for a man who rents a room in the apartment who wasn’t home at the time, “due to them possibly having a beef with him.” The men entered through his bedroom window, the police report states.
But once officers arrived and the men heard the sirens, the men allegedly told her she needed to “get rid of the police.”
Mulvey said the woman initially told police no one was inside.
“I’m said, 'look, there’s the car, I just saw them,'” Mulvey told police when they clarified what he saw.
Court documents state that once troopers took her out of earshot of the home, she said there were armed men inside.
Field and Racine refused to come out, and a standoff ensued for hours.
“I actually had two snipers who were on the lawn right in front of the door,” Mulvey said.
Field came out of the home first, then Racine, who attempted to flee into the woods but was caught.
Field and Racine have been charged burglary in the first degree, larceny of a motor vehicle, interfering with an officer/resisting and conspiracy to commit burglary with a deadly weapon.
They were initially charged with home invasion, but those charges were dropped.
They are do back in court on July 12 and no-contact orders have been issued.
