Counter-top charity boxes are just too tempting for some thieves

Almost everyone has pretty much the same reaction to stories about the theft of counter-top donation boxes: What kind of scumbag would steal from a charity? The same people who used to sneak into churches to rob their donation boxes.

But modern life's intersection of charitable outreach and consumerism at fast-food counters and retail store cash registers has made those boxes much more widely accessible — and irresistible for the morally bankrupt.

Police in Metro Toronto collared a 63-year-old woman for allegedly ripping off a prostate cancer charity's donation box at a suburban Richmond Hill burger joint two weeks ago.

The security video shows her collecting the receipt for her food order at the register and after a quick glance around, smoothly scoping up the donation box and walking off.

Police said she went back to a table and stuffed the box in her bag. York Regional Police Const. Andy Pattenden said the box was believed to contain about $200, the Toronto Sun reported.

The woman turned herself in on Friday after the video was released publicly. Neither the box nor the stolen money has been recovered.

Emma Anderson is charged with theft under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000, police said in a news release.

The sad fact is this kind of thing is no longer uncommon. Donation boxes — either temporary cardboard containers for seasonal drives or those permanent canisters designed to take your change for a store's pet charity — can be targeted.

[ Related: Edmonton poppy theft caught on video ]

Every fall we brace for the first story of someone running off with a Royal Canadian Legion poppy box. It's become a perennial problem.

Usually the thieves get away, but police in Abbotsford, B.C., recently charged a woman from nearby Mission, east of Vancouver, with five theft counts for stealing poppy boxes in the area last November.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of 30-year-old Lisa Marie Goddard — who was known to police — based on video surveillance evidence, CBC News said.

These kinds of thefts are "disappointing," police spokesman Const. Ian MacDonald said.

"Unfortunately, people desperate or lacking a moral compass see cash on the counter and they feel inclined given the opportunity to steal it," he told CBC News.

Police in New Westminster, B.C., are investigating the theft of 17 Canadian Cancer Society donation boxes during the charity's April daffodil campaign.

Karima Jivraj's pet food store was one of the businesses victimized.

"I think it's just wrong for somebody to come in and steal, especially from a charity," she told the Royal City Record. "I was mad; I was angry."

The Record reported police were looking for a man in his fifties who appeared to be of First Nations descent.

And church donation boxes are still tempting. CBC News reported in February that police were investigating the theft of a large donation box chained to the wall of St. Dunstan's Roman Catholic Basilica in Charlottetown. The money was intended for the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Deputy police chief Gary McGuigan said the thieves came prepared to free the box from its heavy chain.

"They were already aware of what was needed to steal this box," said McGuigan.

Jivraj said she got her rifled donation box back but was taking precautions to make it and other charity boxes harder to steal.

"We’re going to zap-strap them to the counter and we’re going to take the money out every night,” she told the Record.

[ Related: Thief swipes charity box for sick kids ]

It's not clear whether anyone's keeping statistics on the prevalence of donation-box thefts but police say they're common.

"I wish that I could say it's a rare occurence," Hamilton police Sgt. Terri-Lynn Collings told the Toronto Star back in 2011. "Unfortunately, these are typical crimes of opportunity."

More organizations may resort to Jivraj's zap straps to deter thieves, part of the hardening of our society against the conscience-free.

But charities have little choice than to continue putting out their boxes, which raise millions of dollars for good causes. The legion told the Star it had no plans to change its collection methods despite the depressing frequency of its boxes being stolen.

"Anybody who would take poppy boxes is the lowest of the low," legion national spokesman Bob Butt told the Star.