North Bend’s Marlboro thief clears shelves of preferred brand of smokes, again

Published 2:24 pm Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Lightning struck twice at a North Bend convenience store, when someone cleared out all of the store’s Marlboro cigarettes for the second time in March.

Of the two incidents, both at Ken’s Gas and Grocery, the only similarity is the timing and the result.

The first theft occurred sometime on the night of Sunday, March 13, and wasn’t discovered until the next day. A store employee reported coming to work around 10 a.m. Monday, and finding all of the Marlboro cigarettes gone. Originally, he thought they had just been moved, and so did not report the incident to police until Tuesday.

Apparently, the thief simply walked into the store, took the cigarettes, and walked out.

A second incident occurred two weeks later, and was reported around 9 a.m. Monday, March 28. This time, the thief appeared to have pried open the drive-up window to gain entry to the store. Once inside, the person went behind the counter and took all the Marlboros.