ALTAMONT — The arrest of a village resident for stealing 200 pounds of meat from the Altamont fairgrounds is pending results of a fingerprint comparison, Altamont Police said this week.

After the fair ended on Aug. 16, the Altamont Police received a call about a burglary and theft at the fairgrounds. The meat theft was reported on Aug. 27, said Altamont Police Chief Todd Pucci.

Someone had broken into a building there and stolen about $1,200 worth of stored frozen meat. It was left over from Fair Week and in cold storage, awaiting use at other events scheduled on the grounds soon afterward.

The meat belonged to Robert Santorelli, who owns Josie’s, a restaurant at the fairgrounds, said Altamont Police Detective Christopher Laurenzo. Santorelli, the vice president of the Altamont Fair Board, could not be reached for comment.

“We got fingerprints and palm prints from where they made entry into the building,” said Laurenzo. “We had a couple good shoe prints in the dirt, walking away.”

Fair officials told police that this same kind of incident had happened in the past couple of years as well, but had never been reported, Laurenzo said. So, he continued, “We concluded that it had to be someone local.”

According to Laurenzo, police have recovered all of the stolen merchandise “without incident,” from a residence in the village, with the cooperation of the owner. It is now in a freezer owned by the Guilderland Police Department.

Police also got, he said, a warrant for the fingerprints and palm prints of a younger adult who lives at that same residence. Police are waiting for a comparison of those prints to the ones at the scene to come back before an arrest can be made.