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MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The Merced County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's assistance successful identifying a antheral and a young pistillate who were caught stealing pumpkins from the St. Paul Lutheran Church and School.
St. Paul School and Preschool Principal Ruth Sebastian says the bandits made disconnected with astir 20 pumpkins. This happened backmost connected Oct. 11, astir 7 a.m. While nary 1 was astatine schoolhouse astatine the time, the transgression was each caught connected camera.
Ring footage shows a metallic SUV pulling up to St. Paul Lutheran Schools' beforehand office, located down the church. First, a young miss gets retired and picks up a ample pumpkin. While she goes to instrumentality it to the car, an older antheral successful achromatic proceeds to bash the same. Both of them instrumentality again and again, picking pumpkin aft pumpkin.
But these aren't conscionable mean pumpkins from the store. Fourth and fifth-grade students began increasing them successful the schoolhouse plot implicit the summer. "It was truly heartbreaking because the kids had enactment truthful overmuch effort into increasing their ain and seeing it spell from a effect each the mode to the beauteous ample pumpkins that they are, and having idiosyncratic travel successful rapidly and conscionable instrumentality those away," she added.
The pumpkins were meant for people projects and for this weekend’s Trunk oregon Treat event, wherever each kid was expected to instrumentality location their ain pumpkin.
When Grocery Outlet heard the news, the supermarket donated and replaced each the pumpkins that had been stolen. "Which is highly generous to assistance enactment our schoolhouse community. And we besides had UC Merced beryllium capable to bring retired immoderate pumpkins, too," Sebastian exclaimed.
As the video of the theft gains traction connected societal media, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke is asking for the public’s assistance successful identifying the suspects. "Take a look astatine that video. Give america a call. I privation to present them to our furniture and meal close present and fto them see, person immoderate pumpkin pastry connected us," helium said.
Right now, Sheriff Warnke says the suspects are facing misdemeanor charges. If you person immoderate information, you are asked to interaction the Merced County Sheriff's Office astatine 209-385-7547 oregon astatine Sherifftips@countyofmerced.com.
