Burglars return loot to sexual assault non-profit with apology note

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The burglars who targeted the office of a California non-profit serving sexual assault victims returned the stolen items hours later with an apology.

Candy Stallings, executive director of San Bernardino Sexual Assault Services, said she received a phone call from her alarm company around 10:30 p.m. Friday and she arrived at the office to find police investigating a break-in, ABC News reported Thursday.

The thieves had taken six computer towers, a laptop, computer speakers, children's story books and 100 bags of candy. They had also cut the building's telephone wires.

Stallings said she went home around 2 a.m. and received a call from police about two hours later.

"I got a call from San Bernardino Police directly, who said, 'Candy, can you please come back down? We have some suspicious activity,'" she said. "And I was thinking to myself, 'This is too much. We are not going to recover from this.'"

However, she arrived to discover police had found the stolen items in a shopping cart left outside the building. There was a note folded inside the laptop.

"We had no idea what we were taking. Here is your stuff back. We hope that you guys can continue to make a difference in people's lives. God Bless," the note read.

Stallings said she was shocked.

"I got chills when I saw the note," she said. "I was teary eyed, and I had so many mixed emotions."

Police said they are continuing to investigate the burglary and the perpetrators would still face charges if they are caught.