Police say ATM was put in woods on Deer Isle as a prank

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office says it has solved the mystery of how an ATM ended up in the woods on Deer Isle.

The ATM was discovered around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday by a woman on her morning walk, the sheriff’s office said.

Detective Steve McFarland investigated, but could not figure out how the machine, which did not appear to be working, made it into the woods about a half-mile off Dexter Farm Road, a dirt road on Deer Isle.

That’s how things stood until late Wednesday afternoon.

“We’ve solved the ATM case,” a dispatcher for the sheriff’s office said. “We’ve just heard from the owner, who said she picked the ATM out of the trash. She told us she put it there as a joke, to her neighboring property owners.”

The dispatcher said he was trying to reach McFarland – the detective was off duty Wednesday evening – to make him aware that the case had been solved.

It is not clear how the owner came to possess the machine, whether there was any cash inside, or whether the person who put it there would be charged with littering.