VASSALBORO – The setbacks keep coming for Donald Crabtree, even as he prepares to close his controversial topless coffee shop in two months.

Thieves have stolen steel and other items twice in recent days, Crabtree said. Maine State Police are investigating.

Crabtree has had a bumpy ride since he opened the Grand View Topless Coffee shop on Route 3 in 2009.

The original motel building was burned to the ground in an arson case that’s heading for a trial. Police and local officials have responded to complaints there, and recently Crabtree was forced to remove signs that the town said violated his permit conditions.

After struggling for two years to scrape together money to keep the shop running — the building wasn’t insured when it burned down — Crabtree decided recently to close this summer, when all of his inventory is sold.

The shop, featuring topless waitresses serving coffee, has been operating out of an office trailer on the property.

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“I can’t seem to get ahead,” Crabtree said Thursday. “The fire pretty much cleaned me out, and no matter what I incur back, somebody just stops by and steals it.”

Crabtree said he has cameras set up at the shop and showed the video footage to Trooper Joseph Chretien, who responded Wednesday night.

Crabtree said his video shows two pickup trucks, one arriving Tuesday night and another Wednesday morning, and men getting out to swipe materials in his yard.

The license plate numbers of the trucks cannot be made out in the video, he said.

Chretien said Thursday that he is still investigating the case. He said one of the pickup trucks seen on the video was maroon with a silver stripe, and can be seen pulling around to the back of the shop.

Another truck can be seen on the video, and it might have been used by a lookout, Chretien said.

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Stolen were two freezers, a propane tank, axles to the shop trailer, tires and rims, and steel. Many of those items — valued at more than $1,000 — were stored behind the shop, surrounded by a fence, Crabtree said.

No one saw the thefts. He suspects the thieves are selling the items to scrap metal dealers.

Crabtree said he is determined to shut his shop down by Aug. 30 and move on.

“I’m getting sick of this; I’m getting very angry,” he said. “You can only take so much.”

 


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