Bizarre thefts abound in Delco

Sometimes it's amazing what people will steal or how they go about doing it. And, as the weather improves, the thefts seem to only get more bizarre. Here's some gems that the state police have investigted around Delaware County recently:

*Around 11:30 p.m. on April 30, a man parked his car at Hank's Place, a restaurant on Baltimore Pike in Chadds Ford "Where hungry people eat and friendly people meet." The man, who apparently was not friendly, hungry or meeting anyone, skipped across the street to Red Clay Studios, an antiques store, where he stole $1,200 worth of merchandise, according to police.

*Fairy tales can come true, but it probably won't happen to you if you go about stealing fairies. Sometime between May 2 and May 5, a sprightly thief stole two plastic light-up fairies, 10 solar lanterns and one spotlight from the lawn of 60-year-old Chadds Ford woman who lives on Featherbed Lane, police said. I bet there's nursery rhyme in there, but it's escaping me now.

*Lights and laterns aren't the only lawn ornaments in danger in Delaware County. According to police, on May 8 someone swiped five reflective lawn signs from a 54-year-old man's lawn in Thorton Township. Police did not detail what, if anything, the signs said, and it remains unknown whether the thief reflected on his crime after the fact.

*My Daily Delco colleague and I have written extensively about the theft of panties and bras from area Victoria's Secrets. Earlier this month, however, a thief branched out in to the store's other product lines. According to police, on May 6, someone stole 50 perfume bottles valued at $2,000 from the Victoria's Secret at the Granite Run Mall in Middletown Township. By my calculations, that's $40 each or about one bra per bottle.

*Here is how not to land a job. On May 8, a 48-year-old Trainer man went in to Kott Beverage in Concord Township looking for a job, according to police. Following his interview, the man went to the back of the store and loaded $500 worth of scrap metal into his car. He then decided to take a few minutes to stop and talk with a friend, during which time a manager came out and told him to put the metal back, police said. The man did so, but came back several hours later and stole it all again, police said. Police did not release his name.

*I'm sure when you get sworn in as a state trooper, you probably never expect that you'll be investigating some stolen coffee, but that's just how police had to spend part of their day on May 9 in Chester Heights. Police were called to an undisclosed business on Lydia Hollow Drive. From the state police press release: "Further investigation was conducted and it was discovered that an an unknown actor(s) removed two packages containing coffee packages from the main lobby area. The actor(s) then fled the scene in an unknown direction."

*Finally, this one is pretty heartbreaking. On May 5, a 95-year-old Newtown Square man reported to state police that a jewelry box was stolen from his residence. The old man told police he didn't know the value of the box or even what was inside it because it belonged to his deceased wife and he never opened it, even after her death.