Caught on Tape: Newsracks Stolen in Alabama

By: Joe Strupp Images from a surveillance video were among the front page stories in The Decatur (Ala.) Daily today.

But these were not the product of some hidden FBI stakeout of underworld criminals or a sting operation seeking corrupt politicians. For the newspaper's circulation department, this was much bigger: Someone was stealing the paper's newsracks, and he was caught on tape.

The images, which were placed as the main Page One art, came from an outdoor surveillance video of a local grocery store, which happened to catch the newsbox bandit as he made off with a $400 newsrack last Sunday. Editors said the grocery store contacted them after discovering the scofflaw's actions had been recorded.

"We showed it to the newsroom and it went from there," said Circulation Director Darren Mack, who said 12 newsracks had been stolen and their coins taken in the past two weeks. "We will definitely prosecute this guy if we can get him."

Along with the video images, which are also on the paper's Web site as its lead item, is a story asking readers if they've seen the man. "If you know him, workers at The Decatur Daily ask that you call police," the accompanying story pleads.

Each stolen newsrack has later been found in an empty lot, along with a number of other racks and at least one vending machine, Mack said. He estimated that the thief could not have gotten more than about $100 for his efforts, but cost the paper about $5,000 because of the value of each newsrack.

"I think it had something to do with the holidays because for some reason people think those boxes have more money around the holidays," Mack said. "I don't know why that is." He said the paper had received about a dozen calls as of noon today, but police had made no arrests.

"He must be kind of dumb, he just takes the money and drops them," Executive Editor Tom Wright said about the newsprint pilferer. "Circulation wanted to do a story, so when we got that art, we thought it was interesting."