It was the best weekend in months for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 133 when heartless thieves broke in and stole thousands of dollars.
On Sunday, October 1st, 2023, Cobourg Police Service attended the Royal Canadian Legion located on Orr Street for a report of a break and enter after staff discovered that property had been taken from the building sometime overnight.
Rod Ingersoll who is President of Branch 133 said, “we had a great weekend and were pretty happy about that until we came in on Sunday and found out some people have broken in.”
The thieves had one goal in mind said Ingersoll. To find the money – the safes. And they did.
Two safes weighing hundreds of pounds were taken from the Legion. Along with that – thousands of dollars collected from over the weekend.
The thieves broke in through the front door, and again broke into the Club Room, into the Legion Office and took the two safes.
The two safes were very old – and very heavy.
“How they were able to pick them up, I don’t know,” said Ingersoll.
“They either had a mechanism in here to pick them up or two or three very, very strong guys to pick them up.”
For the Legion, the theft couldn’t come at a worse time.
“We’re struggling a little bit, but getting back on our feet from the summer.”
The Legion has a lot of overhead costs, so without activities during the summer, it’s hard to bring people in.
But this weekend was a “great” weekend with several events.”
The banquet hall and both bars were very busy both on Friday and Saturday with Meat Draws on both days.
“It was our best weekend in a long time and it was heartbreaking to find out we lost everything.”
“Who comes in and steals from the troops. The money isn’t ours, it’s the veterans – it’s very sad.”
What makes it more insulting is the thieves may have been mixing in with the crowd “casing” the place.
“I feel that whoever did this was in here casing the place – whether it was for a week, or month or whatever.”
The loss has devastated local Legion members.
“They are extremely upset and a lot of people are afraid if something like this is to happen to the Legion – our bartenders are nervous to leave on their own at night – it’s pretty scary. To steal from the Legion is ridiculous.”
Ingersoll said they couldn’t get to the bank until Monday, so the money was kept in a secure, heavy safe – “unfortunately they took the safes.”
The Cobourg Legion was Chartered in 1928 and has never had anything such as this happen.
Police are asking area resident to check their security cameras and report any suspicious activity
(including persons or vehicles) that may have been observed in the area on Sunday, October 1st, 2023, between 12:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 905-372-6821 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS or visiting stopcrimehere.ca. Tips received through Crime Stoppers may be eligible for a cash reward.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
