In the culinary justice system, restaurant thefts are not taken lightly. Luckily for the officers investigating a burglary at an Upstate New York establishment, there was a literal trail of evidence that wound up leading police to arrest three suspects.

Deputies of the county sheriff’s office responded to a call from a restaurant early on Sunday morning, reports the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, after the owners reported that their surveillance system and the cash register were both gone.

Undeterred by a lack of video evidence, police soon found cash register parts, surveillance systems bits and bobs, rubber gloves, loose change and “a steady trail of macaroni salad,” according to a news release issued by the office.

“It was later discovered that the suspects stole a large bowl of macaroni salad, which they took turns eating, along their escape route,” the statement read, though it’s unclear exactly how far the trail went and if the suspects were found at the end of it like a human pot of gold.

The three suspects were in custody that afternoon and were charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree grand larceny. There were no charges specifically linked to wasting perfectly good macaroni salad by spilling it all over the place.

Macaroni salad trail leads to arrest for 3 [Rochester Democrat & Herald]

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