Police: Men stole $45K worth of diapers from charity
FOX CROSSING, Wis. (WLUK) - Two men, John Forbes and Jason Havel, are currently in custody at the Winnebago County Jail for the theft of $45,000 worth of diapers.
They have not yet been formally charged.
"It appears to be a theft of opportunity," said Lt. Scott Blashka of the Fox Crossing Investigations Unit.
Authorities say over a month the two men stole more than 1,700 cases of diapers.
"Resell, for money they were getting for it, I don't (know) what they were using it for, but diapers are pretty expensive," continued Blashka.
"The diapers had been donated to the Fox Cities Diaper Bank, which is an initiative of Fox Cities United Way," explained Tim Seaver, Fox Crossing Police chief.
The diapers were being stored at a Valley Packaging storage facility.
The company says the men arrested had both worked at the facility.
"One had been with us since 2010, the other left about two or three years ago," said Bob Russo, CEO of Valley Packaging.
They also knew the warehouse didn't have any security.
"We have surveillance video at all our buildings except that particular warehouse," explained Russo.
Police say the arrests were a result of two tips they received.
"One of those tips led investigators to diapers at a location in Ashwaubenon, and the other to a suspicious incident call at the Valley Road warehouse in early February," continued Seaver.
United Way says since news of the thefts it has received an overwhelming amount of donations.
"It's really incredible, you have a theft of thousands of dollars and within 24 hours of the news release, we had $200,000," said Peter Kelly, CEO of United Way Fox Cities.
Havel and Forbes are expected to be charged this week.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been corrected to indicate that 1,700 cases of diapers were stolen, not 1,700 pallets.
