Thieves Target Clothing Donation Bins In Billerica
BILLERICA (CBS) - Billerica police say they are dealing with an uptick in thefts from clothing donation bins.
According to Deputy Police Chief Roy Frost, the thieves use vans to steal hundreds of pounds of clothes and then resell them in bulk. Many of the thieves, Frost said, come from the Brockton area.
"Usually two people are coming in at a time. One will go in a bin. The other one will act as a lookout," Frost said. "The van or the vehicle is usually filled to the brim with hundreds of pounds of clothing."
Then, the clothing is resold at flea markets or online, Frost said.
Larry Kadlec told WBZ-TV that he saw two men stealing from the clothing donation bins outside of the restaurant where he worked. One of them, he said, was almost entirely inside a bin.
"It's crazy. That's why I came out here. You can't steal from Goodwill. What's wrong with people," Kadlec said.
Police say stealing a certain amount of clothing from the bins is a felony.