LUBEC – Three local men were arrested early Friday after a Washington County sheriff’s deputy and his dog tracked them from the scene of a break-in at the Red & White Grocery Store. Adam Moores, 21, and his two 19-year-old companions, Daniel Davis and Nathan Myers, were arrested on charges of burglary and criminal mischief, Deputy Michael St. Louis said.

Deputy Jack Fuller responded to a 1:50 a.m. report from the alarm company that services the store, St. Louis said. Fuller arrived to find that someone had smashed the grocery’s plate glass window. Fuller could see footprints inside, and he found a broken liquor bottle beside the building, St. Louis said. Fuller called in St. Louis and his tracking dog, Kliff, who picked up a trail at the liquor bottle and followed it down Washington Street to South Street and up to the door of a residence. The lights and a television were on, and the owners admitted Fuller and Deputy Dennis Perry. St. Louis said the dog walked past the two deputies and the people in the hall, entered the living room and approached a chair where Moores was sitting.

Moores had arrived at the home at approximately 2 a.m., according to the homeowners. He confessed to Perry and told him that two others were involved in the break-in, St. Louis said. Moores also told the deputy where the three had split up, so St. Louis took the dog to the site. He followed a scent to a dirt road between Washington and School streets, turned up School Street, crossed Main Street, went down Somerville Avenue and stopped at the back door of a residence.

St. Louis said Davis and Myers, who both live in the house, admitted to the break-in and told him where they had hidden the liquor.

The three stole allegedly nine bottles of liquor from the Red & White and had opened two, he said.

Deputies recovered the stolen merchandise, and the three men were taken to Washington County Jail, he said.