Former employee linked to vandalism

BELFAST – A disgruntled former employee has been charged with the weekend break-in and vandalism at Penobscot McCrum, according to police.

George Bable, 41, of Belfast was charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief. Bable also admitted to breaking a window at the Dockside Restaurant a couple of weeks ago, Detective Michael McFadden said Thursday.

The break-in at the potato processing plant was discovered at 9 a.m. Sunday. McFadden said Bable admitted entering the employee locker room, ransacking the lockers and strewing personal items across the floor.

He also broke an office window, tossed items to the floor, and used a cutting torch in a failed attempt to break into a company vending machine.

“I knew whoever did this was really mad at somebody, just by the way everything was torn apart,” McFadden said.

He said he learned of Bable while interviewing Penobscot McCrum employees about the break-in. He said one employee told him that workers on the production floor had mentioned “some guy who got fired a couple of months ago for drinking.”

McFadden said when he checked with the firm’s human resources department, it provided him with Bable’s name.

Employees also noted that they thought he was now working at Dockside. When he contacted Dockside management, he learned that Bable had been let go from his dishwashing job.

“The second she said Dockside Restaurant, the bell went off and I remembered the broken window,” McFadden said.

When he questioned Bable at his Spring Street home Thursday, Bable admitted breaking into Penobscot McCrum and using his elbow to break the window in Dockside’s kitchen door.

“Both incidents were retaliation for being let go,” McFadden said.