BANGOR, Maine — Three local transients were arrested Tuesday after they took alcohol and a prepared meal from the deli section of Shaw’s grocery store, then commenced to consume the meal, according to Bangor police Sgt. Tim Cotton.
Loss prevention personnel at Shaw’s called at around 4 p.m. “to report the three individuals had taken a broasted chicken and a container of mashed potatoes,” Cotton said.
Officer Dan Sanborn was dispatched to the store and found 53-year-old Paul Hart, 34-year-old Jessica Moores and 27-year-old Douglas Burrill “out front eating,” Cotton said.
As soon as Sanborn arrived, Hart got up and walked away. He then went back into the Main Street grocery store.
“Shortly thereafter, Hart came out of the store drinking a bottle of vodka he had stolen while Sanborn’s attention was on the other two people,” Cotton said.
During the investigation, Shaw’s loss prevention employee Joshua Perry showed Sanborn a store surveillance video recording that appeared to show Burrill taking another bottle of vodka earlier in the day, and the officer discovered that Moores had four outstanding warrants, the sergeant said.
“Subsequently, they were all arrested and taken to jail,” Cotton said. “All were charged with theft.”
All three were taken to Penobscot County Jail.
Moores has at least four theft by unauthorized taking or transfer convictions on her record that resulted in either fines or jail time, and Burrill has two convictions for disorderly conduct, another for attaching false plates and one for being a minor in possession of liquor, according to Bangor Daily News archives.
Moores and Hart were released on bail and Burrill, who entered a guilty plea Wednesday, remains in the county lockup serving a 10-day sentence for the theft, a jail official said.