ELLSWORTH, Maine — Video surveillance and the everyone-knows-everyone nature of this small city led to charges against a Gouldsboro man who police say stole $200 worth of scrap metal from a local auto shop.
Colwell Diesel said someone had stolen the scraps from its Dumpster on the night of Aug. 22. Since then, Ellsworth police reviewed video stills from that night and saw a man wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt at the Dumpster removing scraps at around 9:35 p.m.
“I just looked at the photos and said, ‘Oh, that’s Michael,’” said Detective Dotty Small, referring to Michael W. Frye, 50, of Gouldsboro, who was issued a summons Wednesday for Class E Theft.
“I’ve known him since he was a kid,” Small said.
Small said that discarded metal is often a target for thieves, who can make a sizable profit of the pilfered scraps, especially high-value items such as copper.
Frye is scheduled to appear in Ellsworth District Court on Oct. 30. He faces up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
Spank on the hand. Next case.
What a Mickey Mouse operation…….
it was in the garbage wasn’t it?
everyone knows everyone nature of this small city lmfao
cheers
City?
Ellsworth use to be known as the biggest little city in the world. It was biggest in area, littlest in population.
Stealing from a dumpster? Wouldn’t that save them money last dumpster I had I paid by weight.
not if its a dumpster they collect their scrap in to sell when its full.
Ya I guess . Jail for dumpster diving still might be a bit much.
That’s what I was thinking. Our shop had a separate (company owned) dumpster just for that.
Didn’t amount to a great deal, but did fund the company Christmas bashes!
It was a dumpster!
nice shirt!
Hard to get away with a crime when even your shirt has ears.
Is that a Mickey shirt or a Panda? Someone up top said something about a mickey mouse operation but the camera sux.
It states right in the second paragraph of the article that it’s a Mickey Mouse shirt.