A brazen thief in Allen Park was caught on camera stealing money meant for children battling cancer.
It happened at the Wish Bone restaurant on Ecorse Road near Cortland in Allen Park.
Surveillance video caught the suspect stealing a donation can for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
He’s on camera a long time, as he appears to debate when or if to take the can. He’s in the restaurant for more than 20 minutes and on camera nearly the entire time.
Co-owners, Michelle Stroud and John Mourselas didn’t notice the can theft immediately.
"I was wiping down the counters and polishing it up and I was just like, 'where'd the can go?'” said Stroud.
When she checked surveillance, she found it happened on September 10. They reported the incident to Allen Park Police last Friday.
When they looked back at the video, they noticed he was moving around the second cancer donation can before stealing the first. He even knocked the second can off the counter and the waitress had to come clean it up.
When he finally decided to steal the first can, he waited until there wasn’t a waitress around and put it under his shirt.
"It's not the money, it's the principal of it. If he did it here for us, he'll do it at other places,” said Stroud.
Stroud and Mourselas send in the money from both cans to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society each month, usually there’s only about $30-$60 in each. This time they’re sending back some of their own money.
"I felt so bad, in fact we donated another $100 from ourselves,” said Mourselas.
Allen Park Police are investigating. If you have information you can call (313) 386-7800.
