A man is behind bars after police arrested him for allegedly stealing the cash box from a 10-year-old Girl Scout selling cookies outside a grocery store in San Jose, California.
Sophia Contos was with her fellow Scouts on Sunday, selling cookies to raise money for a water conservation project.
She spotted a man lingering by her table, and feeling uneasy, she began to pull the cash box closer towards her.
Without warning, the man grabbed the box filled with nearly $600, wrestling it out of the girl’s hands and ran off.
WATCH: Jonathan Toews charms five-year-old Girl Scout, buys cookies
Contos was shocked. “I didn’t know there were people around here who would do such a thing, and it just made me feel bad,” she told NBC.
According to witnesses, the suspect came back to the grocery store 10 minutes later. That’s when Contos’ mom Michelle took down his license plate number and called police.
Police arrested 23-year-old Cody Gintz shortly after, charging him with strong arm robbery.
Half of the cash was found on Gintz and a police dog helped track down the cash box, which had been thrown into a creek.
The Girl Scout troop got their money back, and to sweeten the deal police bought the rest of the $240 worth of cookies from the Scouts and gave them an extra $60 cash.
Comments