nacho man.jpg

A serving of nacho cheese and jalapeno peppers, similar to the photo, were enough to link a 24-year-old suspect to a vandalism, Sturbridge police said.

(Submitted photo)

STURBRIDGE - Police arrested a 24-year-old Sturbridge man in connection with a reported vandalism to a vehicle after linking him to some nacho cheese and jalapeno peppers left behind at the crime scene, police said.

Robert M. Debusk, 24, of Main Street, Sturbridge was arrested Friday and charged with breaking and entering into a vehicle at night for a felony, malicious damage to a motor vehicle and destruction of property.

Police were flagged down on Main Street by a man who reported his car had been vandalized early Friday. The car, a 2005 Ford Focus had smashed windows and four slashed tires. But it was the nacho cheese and jalapenos smeared onto the roof that gave police the hot lead that broke the case open, police said.

Officer Adam Szymanski went to a nearby convenience store at 501 Main St., knowing that it sells nachos with melted cheese. Surveillance video from the store showed Debusk purchasing an order of nachos with cheese and jalapenos at about 1 a.m., police said.

The man who owned the car said he and Debusk had been engaged in a text messaging spat earlier in the evening, and that Debusk had gone to his house and pounded on the door at about midnight, police said.

The nature of the disagreement was not disclosed.

Debusk was arrested at his residence. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Dudley District Court.