BENNINGTON – An Applegate Drive man pleaded innocent to a felony charge of burglary Thursday after police said they believed he had broken into a Depot Street bar on Wednesday morning.

Christopher J. Carpenter, 38, was arraigned in Bennington criminal court Thursday for burglary and a misdemeanor count of unlawful mischief resulting in less than $250 in damage.

In an affidavit, police said they were called to JC’s Tavern on Depot Street on Wednesday around 4:20 a.m. by an neighbor who said he had seen someone leaving the bar. Carpenter was found in the area.

The rear door of the tavern had been forced open, police said, and footprints in the sand of a volleyball court outside the tavern matched Carpenter’s shoes.

The neighbor who called police identified Carpenter as one of three men he saw at the tavern.

According to the affidavit, Carpenter admitted to being inside the tavern but said the door was already broken open when he got there. Police said Carpenter told them he turned on music and took a beer from behind the bar once he was inside.

“I asked Carpenter why he went inside JC’s (to) which he replied, ‘I was looking for free booze.’ Carpenter told me it was a bad decision and that he would not have done it if he was not drunk,” the affidavit said.