A crime of crab legs

Only a couple times in my life have I been a victim of theft. The first time was over ten years ago when my car was stolen from in front of my friend's apartment building in a quiet, residential neighborhood in St. Paul, MN.

The second time was on Tuesday of this week, my 5th Anniversary working at Theatre IV.

♪ Happy Anniversary to me! ♫

Theatre IV hired our usual contractor to install new windows in our administrative offices. The contractor had done other jobs for Theatre IV and was friendly, efficient and did good work. Long story short, one of the contractor's employees had a window of opportunity (forgive the pun) to steal my Wachovia check card out of my messenger bag in my office while I was working in an office down the hall as my new window was being installed. After he left for the day, he went on a mini-spending spree with my card, first stopping at a BP station for gas and other items and then on to Kroger, where he attempted to buy over $200 worth of crab legs.

Not a cart-full of groceries to feed his wife and children.

CRAB LEGS.

This is what was revealed by the surveillance video at Kroger.

I have spent several hours over the last few days talking to the police and Wachovia in order to provide as much information as possible about the theft. An investigator has now been assigned to the case and as of this morning, was in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant. I imagine in the coming weeks there will be affidavits and court appearances involved.

Everyone has been asking how I'm doing -- I'm just fine. But I can't help but think about the guy who stole my card, and more importantly, his family. I feel bad for his wife and kids. It would have been one thing if he had, out of desperation, tried to buy groceries or clothes or some other necessities for his family. But a case of crab legs? That doesn't elicit much sympathy from me. What on earth was he thinking?! Clearly, he wasn't thinking. He will likely go to jail for a time, leaving his family to fend for themselves.

According to the contractor, this guy is (was) an upstanding member of society, "a good Christian man with a lovely wife and seven kids." But as we all know, even the preacher is capable of stealing coins from the offering plate.

Or in this instance, crab legs.