GRAY, Maine — An estimated $15,000 in cash was taken late Saturday night or early Sunday morning from a large safe at American Legion Post 86 on Lewiston Road.
An unknown amount of money also was stolen from an ATM and a cash register, Post Adjutant Jason Hall said Sunday.
The Cumberland County sheriff’s office is investigating the break-in. “There was substantial damage and a great deal of money stolen,” a posting on the post’s Facebook page said. “The money stolen is used to support veterans causes at the local state and national levels. The ironic part is the people responsible for this act stole from the very people that allow these people to live the life they lead.”
Hall said there was more money on hand than usual for two reasons — the treasurer is on vacation so bank deposits had not been made and on Saturday the post hosted a barbecue for the national commander that was attended by veterans around the state.
“We use the money not just to support veterans but also support the local food pantry, for scholarships and camps,” Hall said. “They count on us.”
The theft was discovered shortly about 6:15 a.m. Sunday when a maintenance man went to the building to cleanup, according to a previously published report.
“He found two inches of concrete and steel dust on everything,” Hall said. “The power lines and the line to the security system had been cut.”
Hall said a grinder was used to cut through 4 inches of concrete and two steel plates to get into the large safe where the money was placed Saturday night. When that didn’t work, the burglar took the safe door off by “jimmying the hinges,” he said.
The same grinder apparently was used to get into the ATM machine.
Although the post has insurance, Hall said he did not know Sunday what would be covered.
As of 2 p.m. Sunday, between more than 30 people had shown up at the post to help clean up the mess. Power had been restored and the post was open to serve veterans.
“We are a very strong legion, good legion, and we will bounce back, but this does delay our fundraising efforts,” Hall said. “We create an atmosphere to keep people safe but this happened in the middled night and we couldn’t do it then. We are in planning mode to make it safer.”
Hall said that updates about the incident would be available on the post’s Facebook page at facebook.com/americanlegionpost86Gray.
Anyone with information about the break-in is asked to contact
Detective Sgt. Paul Thorpe of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office at 774-1444, extension 2108.
CBS 13 contributed to this report.