TOLEDO, Ohio — At least $1,000 in coins from the Franklin Park Mall charity wishing well was fished out and stolen in a pair of thefts that leaves Lucas County Children Services short of a donation. In a separate incident, a coin donation box outside a McDonald's drive-thru was smashed and coins totaling about $40 were taken.
FRANKLIN PARK MALL
According to Toledo Police, video footage from Franklin Park Mall shows two suspects involved in multiple coin thefts walking around after the mall had closed.
In the video from the initial incident on September 22, you can see the first suspect enter the closed mall from the south entrance, walking north through the mall to unlock the north main door at the GNC store where the second suspect then enters.
Both suspects can be seen on video using a windshield squeegee to scrape the coins to the edge of the fountain. Then, they collected the coins and put them into a backpack and second bag.
The same suspects returned for a second theft on September 24. But, then came back a third time, staging the squeegee and backpack underneath the bench near the fountain. No money was taken during the third incident.
Police believe the suspects will return to steal more money. The approximate amount of coins stolen up to now is equal to more than $1,000.
MCDONALD'S
Toledo police are searching for the person responsible for vandalizing the McDonald's on West Sylvania Avenue and stealing money from its donation box.
The incident happened on Tuesday around 4 a.m.
According to a police report, when a worker showed up for her shift Tuesday morning, she found blood on the restaurant's front counter. She also noticed that the store's donation boxes had been smashed open and all the money had been taken out of them. Additionally, the cords to both credit card machines had been cut, which connect them to the computers.
A second employee reported that mud had been found on the east side drive-thru window. The employee said that although there was mud on the window ledge, the window was secure when she got to work. Officers did not find any mud consistent with what was found on the ledge inside or outside of the restaurant.
The doors were secure when employees reported for work that morning. Officers could not identify a point of entry or exit.
Video footage was not readily made available.
If anyone has information on either incident, they are asked to call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.