When Sheila Abbott tried to piece together the path taken by the thieves who stole her sex toys, she didn’t have to look too hard.
She just had to follow the trail of feather boa feathers.
However, while she has a pretty good idea of what happened early Tuesday morning, she’s mystified about why.
Abbott, the owner of the Sexessories adult store in Parksville, said thieves struck some time around 3:30 a.m., parking behind the store, walking around to the front, smashing the window and unlocking the door.
“It looks like there were two of them,” Abbott said. “One of them went to one side and swooped all my $125 to $175 rotating vibrators off the hooks while the other went to the other side. There’s at least three garbage bags of stuff missing.”
Abbott said one of the thieves slipped up however, accidentally snatching up a feather boa along with the items that were sitting on top of it.
“There was a little trail of feathers that led around the back,” Abbott said. “They went out the front door, instead of out the back door.”
That’s an interesting point, she said, because the thieves only came far enough into the tiny store to avoid being caught on the store’s security camera.
“The person seems to have some inside knowledge,” she said.
Regardless of who was responsible, Abbott doesn’t understand the motivation.
“I understand theft,” she said. “I understand shoplifting. But this? I’m baffled. Where do people sell this stuff? You can’t bring it to a pawn shop.”
Abbott estimates she lost about $1,800 worth of product, along with a $400 repair bill to fix the door. Abott’s also offering a reward for information on the incident.
RCMP Corporal Charles Hofman said officers canvassed seven store owners in the area to see if they had any video footage that might give them a clue, but were unsuccessful.
The incident remains under police investigation.
