News and Commentary

Robbers Target Convenience Store Wearing Watermelons On Their Heads

   DailyWire.com
A slice of watermelon and googly eyes make a summery smiley face.
Jennifer A Smith via Getty Images

While many burglars are using their coronavirus face masks to commit crimes, two intrepid criminals in Louisa, Virginia had a different idea: Make masks out of watermelons.

As WRIC reported, the Louisa Police Department announced last week that they had arrested one of two individuals “suspected of stealing from a Sheetz while wearing hollowed-out watermelons on their heads.”

“Police said two people arrived at a Sheetz in Louisa in a lifted 2006 black Toyota Tacoma at 9:35 p.m. on May 5. The suspects wore hollowed-out watermelons with holes cut out for the eyes into the convenience store where they committed larceny,” the outlet reported.

One suspected has been arrested. Justin Rogers, 20, “was charged with wearing a mask in public while committing larceny, underage possession of alcohol, and petit larceny of alcohol,” the outlet reported.

WRIC spoke to Sheetz customer Barry Welch about the incident and police photos showing the two suspects wearing watermelons on their heads with eye holes cut out. Welch said the incident “wasn’t super shocking being out here in Louisa, we’ve always had some crazy new stories going around. I definitely give them some points for ingenuity.”

Welch, however, was surprised that the suspects chose watermelons for masks.

“Well I was like at a time like this you could’ve worn any kind of mask, but to come up with a watermelon,” he told the outlet.

Another customer, Candice Wendt, told WRIC: “I think it’s ridiculous. Innovative but ridiculous. The amount of work that you have to do to actually hollow-out a watermelon to stick it on your head, I think, is kind of crazy…”

“…why? Why would they do that? It’s so stupid,” she added.

As WRIC reported, police are still looking for the second suspect.

The Daily Wire previously reported that armed robberies are on the rise as thieves have taken advantage of mask mandates in certain states over coronavirus fears.

“Police in Santa Ana, California, say robberies in the city have risen by 50% since the lock down over the coronavirus,” The Daily Wire’s Joseph Curl reported.

“It’s horrible,” Elias Khawan, who owns a gas station and convenience store, told CBS-LA. “I mean, I know we have to take certain measures because of what’s happening with COVID-19, but it’s the perfect script or manual for a robber — the mask, the sunshade and a hoodie. You don’t know who’s coming, who’s walking in.”

In Connecticut, a man wearing a mask was charged “with robbing five gas stations and convenience stores,” Curl reported.

“Criminals, they’re smart and this is a perfect opportunity for them to conceal themselves and blend right in,” Richard Bell, police chief of Frackville, Pennsylvania, told The Associated Press.

In New York, two men wearing surgical masks robbed three workers at gun point at the Aqueduct Racetrack. The AP reported that similar robberies have occurred in North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

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The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Robbers Target Convenience Store Wearing Watermelons On Their Heads