Alleged getaway driver in cookie $ theft in court on separate burglary charge

Kayla M Lonergan (Rochester Police photo)

DOVER, N.H. - A Rochester woman who allegedly drove the getaway car in the infamous Girl Scout cookie money caper of March 2015 and was arrested in a separate city burglary last month asked for more time to consider a plea deal in the more recent case today in Strafford County Superior Court.

Kayla M Lonergan, 20, of Portland Street, was charged with burglary and also arrested on an outstanding warrant after her arrest on May 2.

Rochester Police got the call around 4:25 p.m. for a burglary reported in progress on Sarah Court by the homeowner who had returned home to find the suspects running out of the house toward a neighboring street.

A New Hampshire State Police K-9 unit attempted to track the suspects, but lost the scent.

Subsequent canvassing of the neighborhood led to information leading police to a possible suspect.

Police then went to the suspect's residence a short distance from where the alleged burglary took place and encountered a male and female matching the description of the two suspects seen leaving the victims house. They also found items reported stolen from the residence on Sarah Court.

Assistant Strafford County Attorney Kathryn A. Smykowski said today that Lonergan asked for more time to decide if she would take the plea deal. Another hearing is set for next month.

It was back on March 27 of 2015 when Lonergan allegedly drove the getaway car after a Massachusetts man, Pierre Thibault, 21, of 127 Winter St., Haverhill, ripped off cookie money from a group of Girl Scouts selling the sweet confections in front of Walgreen's on South Main Street.

Pierre Thibault

A Girl Scout leader took off in her own vehicle and tracked down the suspects, attempting to block their escape from a Rochester side street.

Lonergan, however, maneuvered past the Scout leader's car and made yet another escape before ditching her car near Winter Street and Adams where she, Thibault and another man allegedly fled on foot.

Thanks to her pursuit and perseverance, however, police were able to locate the vehicle and catch up with the suspects, who had already been stopped by police earlier in the day. During that earlier stop Lonergan was arrested for driving after suspension and bailed.

Prosecutors at the time of the 2015 arrest noted two previous theft convictions in 2014 and a 30-day suspended sentence hanging over her from previous charges.

Thibault, for his part, was found guilty on March 27 during a videotaped hearing in Rochester District Court in connections with the Walgreen's incident and given a suspended sentence on good behavior for two years as well as having to pay restitution to the Girl Scouts.

Last month, he was found guilty of resisting arrest during a drug incident in Hampton. The drug charge was dropped, but he was found guilty of resisting arrest on May 17.