Police: Cane thief turns herself in

TIVERTON, R.I.—Police said a woman admitted to stealing a blind man’s cane and turned herself in on Thursday.

Police said Catherine Wiggins was charged with misdemeanor larceny. She’s scheduled to be arraigned in Newport County District Court on June 25.

Police said Wiggins told police she was very remorseful.

“She described it as a mistake,“ Lt. Patrick Jones of the Tiverton Police Department said. “We sent an officer by her house in Tiverton. The officer was able to recover (the cane). It was still in her possession, and she turned herself into the police department (Thursday) morning.“

The missing cane belonged to a blind customer who frequents a Dunkin’ Donuts near Stafford Road.

“He’s a routine customer so he sits at a certain table and given his handicap, he puts it in a strategic location so he would know where to grab it,“ Jones said.

On Tuesday night, someone else grabbed the cane.

Surveillance video showed a woman wearing jeans and a red blouse walking out the store with the cane.

NBC 10 aired still pictures of the surveillance video in a story on Wednesday. Jones said 30 minutes after the story aired, Wiggins called the police department.

The case has left some seasoned officers in shock.

“Given the circumstances involved, we kind of question why she didn’t just turn around and put it back,“ Jones said.

Tiverton officers felt so badly about what happened that they chipped in on Wednesday and bought the man a new cane.

“It was kind of a gift from the police department until we could come to a resolution, not knowing whether we would find his original cane, we wanted to make sure that he was able to get around town,“ Jones said.

Now the blind man has two canes.