A shoplifted Snoop Dogg toy. A shaming online post. And then a surprise

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After a Snoop Dogg figurine and other merchandise was stolen from a St. Thomas games store earlier this week, its owners scored when their Facebook post motivated two shoplifters to return the items a day later.

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Marty Hancox, founder and co-owner of Fan of the Sport, was unpacking stock on Monday at the shop in the Elgin Centre shopping mall that sells sports memorabilia, trading cards and board games. He discovered a Pop Funko, a type of figurine depicting famous people and pop culture characters, was missing, said co-owner Dionne Turner, Hancox’s partner.

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After a search of the store failed to turn up the figurine of rapper Snoop Dogg, Hancox checked the store’s surveillance tapes, Turner said. The video showed that around 1:30 p.m., two females had pocketed the Snoop Dogg Pop Funko, a Pop Funko of X-Men character Wolverine, and a Toronto Maple Leafs coffee mug, Turner said.

“I said, ‘I’m posting this online because we’ve had issues before,’” she said. “The police, they try to help, but there’s only so much they can do . . . and that’s how it all started.”

This time, rather than contacting police, Turner and Hancox decided to post a video and several still images of the two females who had pocketed about $80 worth of merchandise to the store’s Facebook page around 4 p.m. on Monday, Turner said.

Both Hancox and Turner said it wasn’t the cost of the items that motivated the post. Hancox said it was “more the principle of they took stuff” with Turner noting money is “out of our pocket ,too.”

“We didn’t really like it, to kind of shame them on Facebook, but I thought, we’ll give it a try, and sure enough within 24 hours they contacted us,” Hancox said.

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He believes the pair were likely “getting pressure from family and friends” who saw their picture, he said.

Turner said the two females returned the stolen property on Tuesday evening, and that the names of the shoplifters were never learned, nor were there were hard feelings.

“I thanked them for bringing this stuff back,” Turner said, and told them she was “really impressed because it took a lot of guts to come in here and face me.”

“We don’t care what their names are, we’re just happy we got our items back,” Hancox said.

A spokesperson from the St. Thomas police stated by email that a property crime analyst with the department called shoplifters returning stolen property “very rare.”

Turner said the shoplifters had mentioned they were having difficulty affording Christmas gifts, which she empathized with, but “they just went the wrong way about it.

“I didn’t want them to get ostracized because everybody knew who they (are) now,” Turner said. “We got this stuff back, we’re going to drop it (and) hopefully they learned their lesson.”

The post with the video and images of the shoplifters was removed and another was uploaded to Fan of the Sport’s Facebook page giving thanks to the pair for returning the stolen property and thanking customers and friends for sharing the post.

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The post has received an outpouring of support and even some kudos to the pair who returned the items.

“Glad they came in and had a civil conversation and apologized,” wrote Facebook user Rebecca Seeley.

Tammy Crosby wrote: “That’s amazing news! That takes a lot of accountability on their part. Well done.”

Turner appreciated the compassion for the two women as well.

“I got teary eyed when I was reading the comments,” she said. “I was really, really impressed that everybody kind of supported them and agreed.”

bwilliams@postmedia.com
@BrianWatLFPress
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada

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