SCRANTON -- Riding bicycles is part of summer vacation for youngsters. But, twin girls experienced double trouble when their bikes were stolen and it happened while they were buying candy inside a convenience store in west Scranton.
The employees at the Pantry Quik on Washburn Street almost couldn't believe what they saw when they looked back at the surveillance video. While twin 6-year-old girls were in the store with their dad on Father's Day, another customer was out here throwing their bikes in the back of her car.
6-year-old identical twins Kaylanah and Adalyn Maconeghy express their individuality with two different bikes, one pink and one purple. They rode them to the Pantry Quik on Washburn Street in Scranton with their dad on Father's Day.
Surveillance video shows when the girls left the store. Their pink and purple bikes were not in the spot where they left them.
"They were heartbroken, it was Father`s Day, they were in the store getting candy with their father. You know, to come outside and see them missing, they were heartbroken," said Rodney D'Agostino, the girls' mother's boyfriend.
Surveillance video taken only a few minutes before shows a woman picking up the two bikes and putting them in the back seat of her car. The woman then drives away.
Employees at the Pantry Quik told Newswatch 16 the woman caught on camera is a regular customer. She is there almost every day. On that particular day, she went inside and asked the clerk who the two bikes belonged to.
"I`m shocked actually. What's going here? Like, I know her. She's not like that way, but she steals the bike, not even one, but two bikes," said store clerk Sipnil Patel.
Patel said the woman didn't come in at her usual time the following day. If she does come in, he's prepared to call police.
The twins' family just wants the bikes back, and an explanation.
"It`s just a shame, they`re little kids, they're little kids' bikes. She asked if anyone knew whose they were, just because the clerk told her no doesn't mean you can come out and take a child's bike," D'Agostino added.
Shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, the woman seen in the surveillance video returned the bicycles to the store. Employees say the woman told them she thought the bikes were up for grabs but brought them back after seeing her picture on TV and on social media.
Employees at the store did call Scranton police. There's no word on whether any charges will be filed.
The bicycles have been returned to the twin girls.
