Sheriff's deputies made a baffling discovery Tuesday -- an ATM in a lonely stretch of woods in southern Maine, WGME reported.
But it turns out the blue money machine, which sat alone in the snow, was put there as a joke, the Portland Press Herald reported.
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office received a call Tuesday from a woman in North Deer Isle who said she found the machine while she was taking her morning walk, according to WGME. There were footprints around the machine, presumably left there by the person or persons who put it there.
“It was set up like a hunter might need quick cash for a cup of coffee in the middle of the woods,” Detective Steve McFarland told the television station.
However, the Sheriff’s Office solved the case late Wednesday afternoon.
"We've just heard from the owner, who said she picked the ATM out of the trash," a dispatcher told the Press Herald. "She told us she put it there as a joke, to her neighboring property owners."
It is not clear how the woman got the machine or whether there was cash inside it, the newspaper reported. Deputies said it was unclear whether the prankster would be charged with littering.
“I could charge them with littering, but I doubt it. I don’t think I would do that,” McFarland had said earlier Wednesday. “I would probably want the owner to come get it and dispose of it more appropriately.”
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