At first, Jeff Peary and Larry Kadlac couldn't believe it. They watched Sunday as two men strategically parked their minivan and started removing clothing from a donation box right outside the Billerica, Massachusetts, pizza shop where they work.
"He was completely inside, standing in there," Kadlac said Tuesday pointing towards an opening in the donation box. "He just looked at me and didn't know what to do."
Peary also in disbelief.
"Unbelievable, I can't believe anyone can even fit in that," he said. "Never mind going there and steal the stuff from charity."
This was, by no means, an isolated case. Billerica Police noticed a spike in theft cases involving clothing donation boxes a few months ago.
"The first time I saw it I was surprised as anyone else that this was an issue," Roy Frost, Billerica Deputy Police Chief, said Tuesday. "We have made quite a number of pretty good arrests in this, always different people, and usually from out of the area."
Bob Hamilton walked up to a donation box on Tuesday with two bags full of clothing.
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"I get read of the stuff I don't use at home, and my wife is happy that I get rid of it," he said with a chuckle.
Hamilton also couldn't process how someone would get inside a donation box.
"I think they are nuts, because you can get trapped in there and nobody would know you are in there," he said. "Let's face it, the clothing isn't brand new."
Kadlac and Peary say once they threatened to call police, one man slithered out of the box, ran to the running minivan and took off.
"I don't know how he did it," Kadlac said. "I don't know."
The two walked back into work Tuesday vowing to stop them if the two ever returned to try and steal again.
"There is just no words for it," Kadlac said. "It is just sad, real sad."
