MARS HILL, Maine — At 7 a.m. Friday morning, June 29, Rusty Johnston, owner of The Rusty Crab seafood vendor in Mars Hill, arrived at work and found $250 worth of food items such as haddock, hot dogs, chicken, pre-cooked bacon and hamburger, as well as a case of soda, stolen from his freezer.
“I left last night at 8 o’clock and everything was secure,” Johnston said. “I came here this morning to put away a delivery and saw that someone had broken the lock off the power box and cut the padlock off the doors of the freezer. Whoever did it cut off the electric system and left the broken lock hanging there as though nothing had happened.”
Johnston then contacted the Maine State Police. Trooper Nick Casavant responded early Friday morning, and thus far has been unable to comment on possible leads because the theft remains under investigation.
The perpetrator failed to take money from the business, because Johnston deposits daily earnings every night to avoid such theft.
The one silver lining, he noted, is that the thief plugged in the freezer’s electric system before leaving.
Johnston said that the theft won’t have a long-term effect on his business, as he already buys many smaller food supplies such as bacon, bread and hot dogs locally and had just received a shipment of scallops and crabs from an outside vendor Friday morning.
He has, though, purchased new locks for the electric box and plans to purchase a security system, hoping to prevent similar thefts from happening in the future.
“To be honest, I thought it was odd that whoever stole the food did not go after the more expensive items like the lobster or scallops,” Johnston said. “The whole thing is very odd.”
Johnston encouraged community members to keep an eye out for anything suspicious they see near The Rusty Crab, and to share a message that he posted on the business’s Facebook page about the theft.
Despite the possible challenges of maintaining the food supply for this weekend and early next week, he said the theft won’t discourage him and his employees from providing their services to customers.
“We’re not going to allow the situation to set us back,” Johnston said.
Anyone with information regarding the theft can contact the Maine State Police in Houlton at (207) 532-5400.
