Ten Thousand Donuts

It was 3:30am this past Wednesday at a gas station in Carlingford, Australia northwest of Sydney. A woman was seen hanging around the gas pumps near a white unmarked van. The driver was inside paying for his gas. Surveillance video shows the woman jumping in the van and taking off. We don’t know when she realized the van contained ten-thousand Krispy Kreme donuts. At four dollars a donut, that’s $10,000 worth of Classic and Christmas donuts. We don’t know how the driver explained this to his boss when he called in to report the incident. We don’t know if the thief realized what her cargo was before she stole the van, or if the sweet smell of fresh donuts made her turn around and see she was in a hole lot more trouble.

Carjacking has become an increasing and dangerous crime. The latest FBI figures show a million vehicles were carjacked in 2022, up over eight per cent. In Philadelphia, twenty-one hundred vehicles have been taken since 2018. We’ve all heard the stories of thieves taking vehicles with babies or young kids in the back seat. Even worse, people getting wounded or killed if they resist. Most carjackings happen between 8-10pm. Police give the usual warnings about parking in a lighted area. Be aware of you surroundings. Don’t linger. Get in and go quickly.

Back in Australia, Krispy Kreme reported the theft to police right away and has said they were working on replacing the donuts that are handmade and made fresh everyday and satisfying all their customers. At last word, police were looking for a woman in her 30s in dark clothing, a white hand bag, with long brown of black hair. Police are asking for anyone who saw anything or has any video to contact them.

We can only imagine the dilemma the thief finds herself in. You can only eat so many donuts. So does she try to sell them? It’s likely many people have heard the story and will wonder where she got all these donuts. Does she get rid of the van or the donuts? If she decides to keep the donuts, she’s going to need a lot of storage space. And then she has to worry about the donuts going stale. How does she get rid of thousands of stale donuts? Does she leave them outside a homeless shelter? But the homeless deserve fresh donuts just like the rest of us. Does she dump them in some overflowing landfill and contribute to the polluting of the planet? Or does she do the right thing, and drive to the nearest police station and turn herself and the donuts in.

Crime has serious consequences. Punishment is handed out. Lives are changed. This thief will have to live the rest of her life known as “that woman who stole ten-thousand donuts.” Do I see a book and the talk show tour? The sweet taste of success.