Thief gets face full of ham

GLOUCESTER, Maine, March 17 (UPI) -- A Gloucester, Maine, restaurant owner said he fended off an attempted meat thief by slapping the suspect with a frozen ham.

Joe Scola, owner of Scola's Place, said a waitress returning from her break alerted him to a man running down the street with frozen meat taken from the restaurant's cellar, the Gloucester Daily Times reported Monday.

Scola said he caught up to the man, who appeared to be in his 30s, and saw he was carrying 20 pounds of frozen meat, including two bags of linguica, a prosciutto log and a ham. The owner reclaimed the ham but shoved it back toward the suspect's face when the thief made a gesture with the 5-pound prosciutto log that indicated he was planning to strike Scola, the restaurateur said.

"I slammed him with the ham in the face," Scola told the Daily Times. He said his opponent dropped the remaining meat and ran off.

Scola said the suspect told him during the struggle that he had taken the meat because he was hungry but the restaurant owner said the frozen meat would have taken days to thaw and prepare.

Police haven't made any arrests in the case, the newspaper said.