Latest Crime Trend, Gum Thefts Tick Up

The Courant is reporting that there’s a market for stolen chewing gum. Who knew.

“We’ve had a number of larceny cases recently involving thefts of substantial amounts of chewing gum,” New Britain State’s Attorney Scott Murphy said Friday. “What the motive is, we don’t know. But gum thefts are increasing.”

Gum thievery first popped into Connecticut headlines in March, when police in�Bridgeport,�Fairfield and�Stratford charged Kenneth McManus, 21, of Stratford, with shoplifting $800 worth of Orbit chewing gum from stores in each city.

Since June,�West Hartford police have investigated four gum theft complaints, including one Nov. 1, when an�Enfield man was charged with stealing $175 in chewing gum from Shaw’s supermarket on Kane Street.

Timothy Quail, 21, ran from the store when approached by security, but was caught in the woods across the street, police said. His sixth-degree larceny case is pending in Hartford Community Court.

Police in West Hartford and elsewhere say that gum thieves want something they can sell quickly. That’s what the man who swiped several hundred packs of Orbitz in Bridgeport, Fairfield and Stratford told police.

“He told us he did it to support a drug addiction,” Fairfield Sgt. James Perez said Friday. “It’s kind of weird. But really not surprising. There’s an entire black market all across Connecticut, where people sell stolen merchandise on the street and to businesses. People peddle stolen meat, fish, candy, gum, almost anything.”

A box of stolen chewing gum is not a road to riches, but it does have resale value, Perez said. Plus, chewing gum is hard to trace and is much easier to conceal than other items targeted by shoplifters, such as cans of baby formula or frozen seafood, he said.

But chewing gum is far from the hot new thing in the world of larceny. Berlin police Lt. James Gosselin said the department isn’t seeing gum thefts, even though shoplifting, in general, is up. “We’re still seeing the high-end items like baby formula, fancy razors. Gum? That’s odd. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

source: Courant, Chewing Gum Thefts Rising, By BILL LEUKHARDT, November 9, 2009