No soft serve for ice cream shop culprit
By Nelson Sigelman
Published: May 28, 2009
Edgartown Police are searching for a man who smashed the back door of the Dairy Queen ice cream shop on Upper Main Street early Saturday and tried to help himself to a pre-dawn snack.
A security camera captured the young man busting into the store at 4:45 am. Edgartown police provided the following description based on the video.
At 4:47 am "a white male forced the door open and entered the store," according to the police report. "He proceeded to the front area behind the service counter and attempted to use the ice cream machines. One of the machines sprayed out a mess of liquid ice cream that got all over the suspect's pants and feet. He gave up on the ice cream and then stuck his hands in some candy condiment bins. After a few moments he then exited the store."
At one point in the film the man attempted to engage the hot dog machine in a conversation, police said. The messy thief wore a common summer costume, an Oxford button down shirt, light colored khakis and had a yellow "live strong" bracelet on his right wrist. Officer Chris Dolby said that the thief appeared to be drunk.
Officer Dolby said an incident like this puts any property owner on edge. Although the incident might seem amusing to some young people, the police are not amused. "Just a stupid drunken mistake by a college kid," he said. "However, it won't be very amusing when it's their property, or their parent's property, that the drunk is breaking into."
The culprit faces a charge of breaking and entering in the nighttime, a felony.
The popular seasonal ice cream shop is located opposite the Stop and Shop. The owner is Tony Bettencourt, a lieutenant in the Edgartown Police Department.
Katama break-in reported
Police also responded to a break-in at a seasonal residence on Craftsfield Road in Katama. The crime was reported Saturday when the owners of the house arrived for the weekend but occurred sometime within the two weeks prior, Officer Dolby said.
The thieves forced their way into the residence. Items stolen from the house included a full-sized white whirlpool refrigerator, men's green Diamond Back mountain bike, a flat screen LCD TV, a copper striped bass wall ornament, and framed pictures of a fishing scene and nautical map of the Vineyard.
Anyone with information about either incident may call Edgartown Police at 508-627-4343.
