'Rotten, Heartless' Thieves Nab Toys for Tots Donations

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WESTLAND, MI - Even the fictional Grinch couldn’t steal the spirit of Christmas.

In Westland, a pair of thieves tried to steal that, too, along with several bags of toys the team at Independent Carpet One has been collecting from employees and customers for the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots campaign.

“This time of the year they bring in the toys — bags and bags of toys — and now we have nothing to give the Marine Corps,” Cathy Buchanan of Independent Carpet One, which has been collecting toys for the program for the past 18 years, told WDIV-TV.

“It’s just devastating,” she said.

Two men showed up at the business on Friday in a green flatbed pickup with a logo on the side — witnesses said it looked like a hay hauler — and claimed they were picking up the donations for the Toys for Tots program.

They looked legitimate enough, Buchanan said. About half dozen other Toys for Tots donation boxes had already been loaded on the truck.

“Everything seemed as if they were legitimate to my 18 year-old receptionist who trusted them. How would she know otherwise?” Buchanan told Hometownlife.com in an e-mail warning about the thefts.

The men are described as white and in their 50s. Both were wearing neon green or yellow reflective vests, and one had a mustache.

The Westland Goodfellows organization also told the Westland Police Department its donation boxes were stolen Friday by men matching the same description.

Toys for Tots regional coordinator Rebecca Yarbrough called the thieves “rotten” and “heartless.”

Yarborough thinks the men may be the same individuals behind a burglary at the Toys for Tots warehouse in Inkster Tuesday morning. Similar thefts have been reported in Wayne and Livonia.

In a news release, the Quantico, VA-based U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation said there have been other incidents of toys having been picked up by unauthorized persons around the country. Over the years, the Marines have distributed more than 494 million toys to 230 million children.

Toys For Tots programs in Wayne and Oakland counties are working with police to identify the culprits.

» Photo via Toys for Tots Facebook page