BANGOR, Maine — The owner of The Scotch Bonnet food truck in Bangor, Bethany Gregory, has been asking the public for any information that could lead to the safe return of her business’ stolen BBQ smoker.
After about a month of social media pleas, someone reached out to the Bangor Police Department to tell them they've found it.
Casey Small was hiking 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 of a story it became, and they were like, 'I'm not going to try to sell this or hold onto it because it's a well-known, stolen smoker,'" Small said. "So I'm thinking they just kind of dumped 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, it put Gregory's plans of running the food truck outside of her other business, The Maine Market, on hold.
Luckily, she was still able to start the food truck business only a short time after originally planned, when a BBQ caterer from Ellsworth loaned his smoker to The Scotch Bonnet until Gregory was able to replace the stolen one.
One month later, Small found the smoker, which has now been returned to where it belongs.
"I was just 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, 'That's crazy!'" Gregory’s daughter, Gwendolyn Gregory said. "I'm just happy it's back, to be honest."
Gwendolyn has been helping to run The Scotch Bonnet Food Truck while her mother is out of town.
Gregory says that it would have cost her $10,000 to replace the stolen smoker, but now that it has been returned, that’s one less thing for the small business owner to worry about.
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