Cookie Monsters: Police Say Pair Swiped Girl School Troop's Fundraising Money At Mall
WOODBRIDGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – A group of Girl Scouts selling cookies at a New Jersey mall had their day's fundraising money stolen Friday by two suspects seen on a surveillance camera.
Dressed in their vests last Friday, the 34 members of Girl Scout Troop 80062 made a huge profit at their booth set up on the upper level of the Woodbridge Center Mall.
Troop leader Jessica Medina says the troop had more than $1,000 in cash and checks in an envelope. At $4 per box, that's more than 250 boxes sold. Medina told CBS2's Meg Baker she put the envelope down for just a second, and then it was gone.
"They must have been watching us," she told CBS2.
Eleven-year-old troop member Olivia Limmer was approached by the couple around 4:30 p.m. accused of taking the envelope, a pair described as an elderly woman with a red walker and a younger man in a green jacket.
"We were selling cookies and I guess the woman's son he stole the envelope off the table," she said.
The troop says one of the values they're taught is charity, and this goes against that.
"I was really upset when they stole [the money] because I feel like we worked very hard and I feel like we all came out of our way to sell cookies," says troop member Jazlene Martinez.
While they waited unsuccessfully until the mall closed in hopes the thieves would return the money, they say they won't be deterred from spreading love, laughter, and cookies.
"In this Girl Scouts troop we raise money to give to other people who don't have things," one troop member told CBS2. "It doesn't make sense for someone to steal money from girls that want to give it to people that don't have anything.".
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Woodbridge Police by calling 732-855-TIPS.
