A man was arrested Saturday after he allegedly smashed four windows at businesses in Portland’s Monument Square.
Michael Hale, 51, who was identified as homeless by Portland police, has been charged with aggravated criminal mischief, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Just last week, Hale was issued a summons for two counts of aggravated criminal mischief after police said he threw an object through the window of a business on Congress Street and broke several windows at another.
Jess Howell, who owns The Lady in the Moon, a boutique on Monument Square that was hit Saturday, said the incident happened during business hours and patrons were eating dinner at an outdoor patio at David’s only steps away. It’s the second time her business’s window has been smashed in a month.
“He could have potentially injured someone, severely,” she wrote in an email to the Press Herald. “The behavior is brazen and it’s only escalating. My employees are scared to come to work.”
Just last month, Howell’s business and three others were targeted by vandalism. Another man was charged in connection with those incidents.
In addition to the vandalism at Renys department store and the Portland Flea-for-All – for which Hale was charged – police are investigating vandalism and theft at at least two businesses on Wharf Street.
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