A man from San Jose, California reportedly stole money from a Girl Scout troop on Sunday in order to feed his heroin addiction.
NBC Bay Area reported that Cody Phillip Gintz, 23 grabbed the Girl Scout troop's cash box containing $600 as they were selling cookies near a supermarket. A 10-year-old Girl Scout named Sophia Contos held on to the cash box but after a brief struggle, Gintz managed to get the money and sped off in his car.
Sophia's mother Michelle had her wits about her and quickly listed down the plate number of the robber's Ford Bronco, which they later reported to the police.
"I just kept reading the license plate over and over again," Michelle said.
Because of this, the suspect's car was spotted by rookie cop Joseph Ferrante and Gintz was later arrested and charged with strong arm robbery. They found $300 on the suspect while the remaining money was found inside the cash box that the suspect threw in a creek.
During an interview with NBC Bay Area, Gintz said that he felt bad about the robbery and would apologise to his victims, but reasoned that he was desperate that he attempted to steal the cash.
"Normally, I would never try this," he said. Gintz also said that he knew "right away" that what he did was wrong, and his family and girlfriend are disappointed by his actions.
He committed to fighting his heroin addiction and said that the robbery incident served as a wake-up call for him. "It think it's going to be difficult," he said. "I'm definitely going to try."
The Girl Scouts were selling the cookies to raise money for a water conservation service project. After the robbery, the girls managed to raise even more money since the San Jose police officers bought an additional $240 worth of cookies, and even donated $60 to their cause.
