Vending Machine Thief Snags $430, Police Say

Have you spent endless hours -- and quarters -- at a grocery store trying to beat those crane-like vending machines to snag candy or a plush animal? Or maybe you wanted a certain prize inside one of those gumball-type machines, but you got the junky one instead.

Someone recently took a different approach in trying to outsmart these machines at Walmart in Lower Macungie Township by skipping the "payload" of prizes and just going for silver in the coinbox left by previous players, according to state police at Fogelsville.

Police said that someone between Feb. 25 and March 4 entered the coin boxes of four vending machines at the entrance to the store at 1091 Mill Creek Road and stole a total of $430.

The machines are owned by National Entertainment Network of Allentown, police said.

Anyone who might have witnessed the thefts -- perhaps someone with their arm up one of the openings or someone working the machine with a screw driver and filling their pockets with lots of change -- is encouraged to contact police at 610-395-1438.