Police believe a local plumber had more than pipe wrenches on his mind when he fixed a problem in Bangor last week.

The resident of a Cottage Street apartment told police the plumber had worked on a problem in his bathroom last week while he was home. The man left his residence July 6 and returned Thursday to find a rubber ring the plumber had removed from his pipes sitting on top of a rifled desk.

The man reported the theft of a $346 watch, $1,000 in cash and more than 200 prescription tablets estimated to be worth $1,179.

According to the police report, neighbors said they saw the plumber enter the residence on Friday, July 7.

A woman in Bangor reported that $600 worth of goods were stolen from her Third Street residence sometime Wednesday night. Two sterling silver Miss Maine cups valued at $100 each and a $400 “multicolored hand-blown crystal clown” were reported missing.

The owner said she locked her door, and Bangor police report they found no signs of forced entry.

A Milo man was summoned Thursday for possession of a usable amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia after a Piscataquis County civil deputy smelled marijuana smoke coming from the man’s apartment, officials said.

The deputy was serving Michael Wing, 27, with civil papers when he smelled smoke and later informed the Milo Police Department. Police Chief Michael Poulin and Officer Brian Bean drove to the apartment, and after their initial request, Wing allowed the two to search his apartment, Poulin said.

The officers found numerous items of drug paraphernalia inside, including a metal cake pan holding many of the illegal objects, including a couple of pipes.

“This is an ongoing problem in this area, and I intend on trying to eradicate it the best I can,” Poulin said.

– Compiled by BDN reporters Michael Hartwell and Toni-Lynn Robbins