WARREN, Maine — A section of Main Street was closed for several hours Monday as police responded to a report of a suspicious package in a mailbox.
In the end, Knox County Sheriff Donna Dennison said the package turned out to be a small U.S. flag wrapped up in a cardboard paper towel tube.
The sheriff said the closure and evacuation of several homes was done as a precaution, and the state police bomb squad was called in.
The sheriff said a youth opened his family’s roadside mailbox and spotted an item, took a photo with his camera phone and emailed it to his mother asking her what the object was. She then contacted the sheriff’s office at 8:30 a.m., Dennison said.
The house is located near the Warren library.
A portion of the road between Four Rod Road and Georges River Terrace was closed.
The mailbox was checked and the item was inspected. The sheriff said two 8-year-old boys had been playing with the items and placed them in the mailbox. She said it does not appear the action was done with malicious intent.