Snacks for Volunteers at Abandoned-Animal Fundraiser Bazaar ‘Cleaned Out’ ... Three-Minute Theft Caught on CCTV

[Financial News] CCTV footage captured a woman stealing all the snacks prepared for volunteers at a fundraiser bazaar for abandoned animals.
According to the Seoul Shinmun on the 1st, a box of snacks placed outside the office of Hello Prince, an abandoned-animal adoption organization, in Sangok-dong, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, was stolen on the 31st of last month.
CCTV footage released by the organization showed a middle-aged woman identified as A, her face covered by a hat and mask, approaching the box outside the office and looking through its contents at around 7:15 a.m. that day.
After checking inside the box for about 10 seconds, A took a white plastic bag from her pants pocket and began putting the snacks into it. She glanced once at a passerby but did not stop.
A also opened the cooler, which was secured with a zipper beneath the box, and checked its contents. But she left the items inside the cooler and went back to taking the snacks from the box.
When the plastic bag was full, A put the remaining snacks in the shopping bag she was carrying. She reportedly stayed for nearly three minutes before retracing her steps.
The stolen snacks included cup noodles, chips and canned tuna, and the loss was estimated at around 50,000 won. The cooler A left behind contained drinks, including coffee.
The snacks had been prepared for volunteers at a fundraiser bazaar for abandoned animals that the organization was holding for two days starting that day.
According to Kim Mi-ra, head of Hello Prince, the organization has held fundraising bazaars twice a year for the fourth consecutive year to raise money for rescuing and treating abandoned animals. Kim said she was briefly away while moving items early on the morning of the bazaar’s first day when the theft occurred, and that this was the first such incident.
Kim said, “The loss is small, but I have reported it to the police to prevent a repeat offense from causing the same harm to another victim.”
Article 329 of the Criminal Act stipulates that anyone who steals another person’s property is punishable by up to six years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won. Theft is still a crime even when the amount of the loss is small, and the actual severity of the punishment depends on factors such as prior convictions for similar offenses and whether restitution has been made.

[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter