About $100,000 in dimes stolen from Philadelphia truck in bizarre coin heist

Police in Philadelphia are looking for a suspect after someone appeared to break into a parked truck with bolt cutters and steal a substantial chunk of change — literally.

The incident took place early morning Thursday in a Walmart parking lot in Northeast Philadelphia, where investigators believe a suspect got away with about 1 million dimes, or $100,000, from the trailer. Police said the truck seemed to be holding an estimated $750,000 in dimes total.

There were also thousands of dimes scattered across the parking lot all the way to a nearby road — a mess that seemed to be created by the suspect while trying to get away; crews spent hours cleaning up.

According to reporting by the CBS News affiliate in Philadelphia, the truck driver had picked up the coins from the Philadelphia Mint in Old City, drove to the Northeast where he lives, parked the trailer in the parking lot overnight and went home to rest before the next leg of his trip to Florida. Police said that was not an “unusual” practice.

Authorities said that while the specific incident of stealing dimes is unusual, they have seen an increase in cargo thefts in the area lately. 

“We’ve had lamb, chicken, TVs, refrigerators, etcetera taken,” said Captain John Ryan of the Philadelphia Police Department.

Police are now looking through surveillance video for leads on who could have done this. No one has been arrested yet.