THE brazen theft of a Shenton Park Dog’s Home charity tin at Woodlands Village Pharmacy has left the owner and staff shocked.
Pharmacy owner Edward Beck said a woman in her late 20s entered the store on January 27 and stole the full tin while staff were busy helping her with requests about 5pm.
“As the owner of the business it is incredibly disappointing to come across a person who has no problem with manipulating and deceiving pharmacy staff with the sole intention of lining her own pockets with money collected for charity; I can think of few lower acts,” he said.
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READ NOW“While she had the pharmacy staff distracted and with the help of a large white carry bag she took the charity tin, placed it on the floor at the same time as dropping a product that was sitting on the counter.
“Her enquiries were treated seriously and professionally with staff bending over backwards to assist her.”
Scarborough police Senior Sergeant Glenn Dowding said police had seen a trend of donation tin thefts and police were investigating the Woodlands incident.
“There seems to be a trend of stealing these charity tins with several instances that are not linked,” he said.
“Businesses should secure these tins with a metal chain, the issue is people want these front and centre so customers donate.
“Because they are charity you would think people would leave them alone but unfortunately they become an easy target.”
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Mr Beck said it was important for local businesses to support charities and would write a cheque covering the amount stolen.
“The pharmacy will certainly be writing a cheque out to the Refuge covering the amount of money that we expect to have been in the tin and we’ll be securing a new collection tin on our front counter; it be great if we could fill it up in record time,” he said.
“Being the proud owner of two rescue dogs and two rescue cats, the animal charities are particularly close to my heart.”
Shenton Park Dog’s Home president Karen Rhodes said the Dog’s Refuge relied heavily on public support.
“We couldn’t do the work we do without donations, someone like this is the reason we can help 14,000 dogs per year,” he said.
“As much as possible we advise people to secure the tins to their counter, this is so disappointing for all those who contributed and we are really grateful for that.”