Thief snatches Telemiracle donations at Rush game

When the goal was to go higher, one woman at the Saskatchewan Rush game Saturday found a way to go low.

As the Rush battled the Calgary Roughnecks, the team put its support behind Telemiracle 43 with a variety of segments and initiatives like special edition warm-up jerseys and a pass-the-bucket donation drive.

More than $23,000 was raised as buckets were sent through the crowd, but as volunteers on the concourse at Sasktel Centre were gathering all the buckets, one of the buckets was emptied of its cash.

“It’s not like people were passing (the bucket) around and she just grabbed a handful of cash,” Brandon Urban, director of business development and media relations with the Rush, said on Monday.

“It was kind of out of sight. She obviously found the perfect moment to snatch it and fill her pockets.”

Staff at the venue poured over video surveillance footage to track the missing money. Urban posted a photo of the woman in question on his personal Twittter account asking for the public’s help in finding her.

A social media manhunt ensued.

“You don’t mess with Telemiracle,” he said of the support to find the woman.

“People don’t have a lot of cash these days as is… (when) they see that some low-life decided to take their hard earned dollars, they get fired up about it.”

Urban said the woman turned herself into police Sunday morning. It’s unclear how much money she was able to grab.

“Apparently this girl was heavily intoxicated,” Urban said. “I don’t know if she even remembers how much she took, how much was recovered, or how much was spent.”