CARIBOU – A transient with an extensive criminal history in several states was arrested and charged with criminal trespass last week after hiding out in a garbage receptacle to try to thwart the Police Department.

Police Officer Douglas Bell said Monday that Harley David Smith, 27, a transient who recently turned up in Maine, has been spotted in numerous locations throughout the community. Police have received several complaints about the man loitering in locations throughout town, Bell said, and police spent some of last week trying to “chase him away” from places where he is not supposed to be.

Bell said that on Nov. 17, police received a call that Smith was again loitering near a church on Sweden Street. When police arrived there to confront him regarding the criminal trespass charge, however, he fled the scene.

Police attempted to track him down as he ran behind the office of a local lawyer and the Aroostook County Superior Court building on Sweden Street.

Bell said the officers found a recycling divider behind the building with six doors for recycled materials. All of the doors were locked except the one that had been reserved for garbage.

Police opened the lid and found Smith hiding inside among the refuse.

Bell said Smith has an “extensive criminal history” that now includes charges in Maine, Colorado, California and Oklahoma.

Smith was pulled out of the bin, arrested on the criminal trespassing charge and eventually taken to Aroostook County Jail in Houlton.

jlbdn@ainop.com

532-9257