SPRINGDALE, Arkansas -- An Arkansas woman loves to save money, and now it has gotten her in trouble with the law. Police say she stole more than 100 newspapers to feed her coupon habit.
Extreme couponers save thousands of dollars on everyday items.
Bryan spends about four hours a week collecting and categorizing coupons.
"This is the coupons we've collected over the last about two weeks," he says.
Bryan asks friends and family to give him the coupons, but police say a Springdale woman went to more extreme measures. They say she started stealing bags of unsold newspapers.
"Her defense was that she didn't know it was a crime," says Lt. Kevin Lewis of the Springdale Police Department.
When the newspaper employees didn't find any extra papers, they assumed all of the papers had been sold.
"Because they were getting no returns, the newspaper was actually putting more newspapers in those boxes to try to sell more newspapers," says Lewis.
And police say Jamie VanSicker kept taking them, as many as 62 papers in one night. The thefts were caught on surveillance cameras.
By the time police contacted VanSicker, they say she had taken 185 papers worth $231.
"I'm not sure why she was doing that, or whatever. I can tell you right now if you go about it the correct way and just talk to people and ask you can get so many coupons that you don't know what to do with them all. It's completely legal, its moral it's ethical and it helps out a lot of people," says Bryan.
VanSicker's attorney says she is shocked and embarrassed by the situation and disappointed the newspaper went public and pressed charges. She is charged with misdemeanor theft of property.
You can also read the article here.
No comments:
Post a Comment