Gone Chocco

Story from The Age online – 17th November 2009

Thieves with munchies nab vending machine

Three sweet-toothed thieves with the late-night munchies have nabbed a chocolate vending machine in Melbourne.

A night-shift van driver patrolling Camberwell in the city’s east spotted three men trying to lift the $10,000 machine onto a ute in Albert Street about 1.15am this morning.

Police allege the trio had unplugged the machine from the foyer of a Hawthorn East hotel and pushed it a short distance up the street before returning to one of their houses to get the ute.

“The men told police they stole the machine because they felt like (having) chocolate,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

A 21-year-old Bairnsdale man and a 23-year-old Hawthorn man are expected to be charged on summons with theft. Police are yet to speak to the third man.