Penny bandit makes off with 70 pounds of coinage

[Copper Catcher]

The good folks at the Santa Maria Natural History Museum are hoping that whoever broke into the museum Tuesday and took a 70-pound plastic water bottle filled with pennies will think again and return the loot.

The coinage was part of the “1,000,000 Penny Project,” a fundraiser to pay for a new exhibit and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the museum’s grand opening.

Figuring there are between 145 and 181 pennies per pound, depending on when they were made, according to an online source, a pound of pennies is worth $1.45 to $1.81.

So 70 pounds would be somewhere between $100 and $125, no small change.

“Banks are certainly going to get rolls of pennies, or parents are going to see lots of pennies,” said museum President Virginia Souza, who was at The Door Stop, a commercial and residential door distributor in Santa Maria, getting the necessary materials to repair the museum’s back door this afternoon.

Souza said she hopes that getting information out about the theft will allow people to help solve the crime.

The Natural History Museum was established in 1996 as a nonprofit organization named The Samuel J. Perry Natural History Museum in memory of a native Santa Marian.

In 1999, as the museum grew and was about to occupy its current location, the name was changed to The Natural History Museum, Santa Maria, California, to share the stewardship of the agency with all the people of the area, according to its mission statement.

Souza said the museum weighs the penny containers, which are set up in the museum lobby with a sign explaining the fundraiser, periodically to measure the progress. Two other containers were not taken, she said.

The museum, which is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., was closed Monday.

But Souza said that a friend who was on jury duty noticed the back door was open, and called her to notify her that something was amiss.

She said she assumes that whoever took the coins could carry only one container at a time, and was scared off by the alarm, which apparently stopped sounding at some point.

Anyone with information about the theft can call the museum at 614-0806, or the Santa Maria Police Department at 928-3781.

http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/loc ... 002e0.html

[justoneguy]

I think it was HCBTT