Police probe mailbox-smashing spree Bangor man finds number scratched in truck’s paint, condiments on hood

Two more mailboxes were smashed Monday night in the latest of a monthlong string of anonymous drive-by mailbox smashings along some of Hampden’s well-traveled roads.

According to Sgt. Scott Webber of the Hampden Police Department, 20 mailboxes have been smashed by full iced tea and soda bottles since mid-May. Webber said the actual number of incidents is probably twice that many since people often don’t report it.

“Some of these people have replaced their mailboxes and had them destroyed again,” Webber said Tuesday night.

The majority of the incidents have occurred on the Back Winterport Road, the Carmel Road, the Monroe Road and Western Avenue.

All of the incidents have occurred at night, but Webber said they seem to happen on random nights of the week.

In addition to mailboxes, three windshields have been smashed on cars for sale in front of people’s homes.

“The damage to each of the mailboxes is about $20, but the windshields are each roughly $500 to replace,” Webber said.

Webber said there aren’t any suspects, but evidence has been recovered and the Police Department has some leads.

“If someone hears a commotion late at night, they should try and get a license plate number or a description of the car,” Webber said.

Webber stressed that anyone who finds a mailbox smashed should file a report with the Police Department.

A Bangor man reported that someone scratched the number eight on his pickup truck sometime between 9 p.m. Monday and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Mustard and relish were also found on the hood of the pickup truck.

This was the second time that a vehicle parked in the man’s driveway had been damaged, the man told police.

Recently someone had also damaged a friend’s vehicle parked in his driveway. The number 100,000 had been scratched on the vehicle.

– Compiled by NEWS reporters Anthony Saucier and Doug Kesseli