Shopping Cart Bottoms Stolen, Scrapped

Alleged thieves leave grocery cart shells neatly stacked behind store

People searching for metal to scrap have targeted everything from funeral homes to power lines but recently shopping carts got the scrap treatment in Delaware.

Alleged thieves took the metal bottoms out of nearly two dozen shopping carts outside the Airport Plaza Pathmark store on July 31, according to New Castle Police.

A week later employees at the store discovered the plastic shells of 22 carts neatly stacked up behind the grocery store, according police Lt. Adam Brams.

Police began to investigate. They say they discovered that the shopping cart bottoms were scrapped -- on the second attempt -- by two men.

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Pathmark valued the bottoms at about $100 a piece -- the total haul around $2,200, said Brams.

On Friday cops arrested Charles Whyte, 62, of 300 block of Minquadale Boulevard. Whyte was charged with theft and was released on $1,500 unsecured bond.

A warrant is out for a second suspect, police said.


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