A man unleashed approximately 100 bedbugs at the Augusta City Center in Maine on Friday, causing officials to close the building and summon pest control.
The man emptied a container filled with the insects on a counter when staff informed him that he did not qualify for assistance to address his bedbug issue, the Kennebec Journal reports.
“He whipped out a cup (full of live bedbugs) and slammed it on the counter, and bam, off they flew, maybe 100 of them,” City Manager William Bridgeo told the newspaper.
The man had applied to the state’s “general assistance” program after his former apartment’s bed bug problem caused him to get rejected from a new place to live.
WGME producer Ted Homer shared a series of photos showing the bugs scattered around a desk.
A municipal manager since 1976, Bridgeo said he could not recall “anything as yucky as this.”
Employees immediately called police, who located the man, according to WGME.
Of course, many people cringe at the thought of bedbugs, which research has shown are becoming resistant to current insecticides.
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