After many pleas on social media, the stolen BBQ smoker owned by The Scotch Bonnet in Bangor has been safely returned.
BANGOR, Maine – The owner of The Scotch Bonnet food truck in Bangor, Bethany Gregory, is asking the public for any information that could lead to the safe return of her business’ stolen BBQ smoker.
After about a month of pleas on social media, someone reached out to the Bangor Police Department to say they had found him.
Casey Small was walking in Brownville when he came across the smoker in the middle of the woods.
“If I had to guess, they probably saw how much media coverage it got and how big a story it got, and they said, ‘I’m not going to try to sell this or keep it because it’s a well. known smoker, stolen,” Small said. “So I think they just threw it out there and I don’t know what their plan was, but I’m glad it went back to its rightful owner.”
When the smoker was stolen, she put Gregor’s plans to run the food truck out of her other business, The Maine Market, on hold.
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Fortunately, she was still able to get the food truck business off the ground just a short while after it was originally planned, when a BBQ patron from Ellsworth loaned his smoker to The Scotch Bonnet until Gregory was able to replace the stolen one.
A month later, Small found the smoker, who is now back where he belongs.
“I was in shock really. I was just like, ‘Where, how?’ And then when they told me [it was found] in the middle of the woods, I was like, ‘This is crazy!'” said Gregory’s daughter, Gwendolyn Gregory. “I’m glad he came back, to be honest.”
Gwendolyn has been helping run the Scotch Bonnet food truck while her mom is out of town.
Gregory says it would have cost him $10,000 to replace the stolen smoker, but now that it’s back, it’s one less thing for the small business owner to worry about.
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