Police: Burglar mistakes mini-fridge for safe, jumps in Kenduskeag stream

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - An Orrington man is the Penobscot County Jail, accused of stealing what he thought was a safe.

Turns out it was a mini-fridge.

Police say 24-year-old Todd Francis allegedly assaulted someone outside an apartment on Division Street Thursday night.

A third person heard the commotion and opened the door to that apartment.

We’re told Francis pushed past them into the apartment, looking for a safe he intended to steal.

Instead he picked up a mini fridge and ran out of the building.

Realizing his mistake, he dumped the fridge and ran alongside the Kenduskeag Stream.

Sergeant Wade Betters of the Bangor Police Department says officers were closing in on him when he tried a new escape strategy.

”He jumped over the handrail and went into the stream and attempted to swim away. Officers threw him a safety line with a flotation device on it. Firefighters came down and lowered a ladder.”

Francis was taken into custody and charged with felony burglary, refusal to submit to arrest, and probation violation.

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