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Canadian Thieves Return Stolen Monitors to Church, With an Apology

by Warren Riddle on July 1, 2009 at 02:48 PM

Residents of Kelowna, British Columbia were shocked and appalled when, in early June, thieves pilfered dozens of computer screens from a resident's driveway, according to The Province. Kelowna General Hospital had donated the monitors to Trinity Baptist Church, and had planned to then distribute the screens to impoverished hospitals in Cameroon, Africa.

As a church volunteer loaded the monitors in his driveway on June 11th, the unknown perps swiped 31 of the screens, prompting local police to appeal to the community for help. Someone contacted the church and stated that they knew the whereabouts of the thieves. Soon after, 29 of the monitors reappeared in the original driveway with a handwritten note attached that read, "Sorry for the trouble hope you forgive us hope those kids in Africa enjoy." The church now plans to ship the monitors to Africa at the end of July.

Constable Steve Holmes told The Province that he believes the repentant thieves returned the goods because they were feeling the heat from snitches and law enforcement. Reflecting on the fact that twelve additional monitors were donated as a result of the local media's coverage of the theft, Senior Pastor Wayne Alguire of Trinity Baptist attributed the outcome to more divine circumstances, saying, "God does work in mysterious ways." Deus ex machina, indeed. Or, perhaps machina ex deus would be more appropriate in this particular situation. [From: The Province]

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Tags: charity, church, computers, crime, monitor, police, religion, stolen, theft, top

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