ROSCOE VILLAGE — The verdict is still out on whether the Great Pumpkin exists, but the Great Pumpkin Thief of 2014 has been caught in the act on camera.
When Roscoe Village resident Maureen Lyan noticed a 50-pound gourd was missing from her porch, she looked at footage from her home's security camera and found that a brazen thief had visited the house not once, but twice, stealing a smaller pumpkin the first night and returning for bigger booty the second.
"You spend money and time, and this guy comes two days in a row and cleaned us out," said Lyan.
"It's such a violation, the idea of someone creeping up onto your porch ... to know someone's looking at your house," she said. "That's very bold to come back."
Patty Wetli says the owner understands there are more important things, but hopes the thief feels some shame:
Video footage shows a white male, in his 20s or early 30s, dressed in jeans, sneakers, long-sleeved T-shirt and the same backward-facing ball cap nonchalantly walking up to Lyan's porch, grabbing the pumpkin and scurrying to a car, parked both times on the street in front of the house.
The thefts occurred Oct. 23 and 24, about 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., but Lyan didn't discover the thefts until Saturday.
If she had been aware of the first incident, she said she's not sure how she would have guarded her pumpkins.
"Maybe loaded it with cement," she said.
In the grand scheme of things, Lyan said she realizes "It's a stolen vegetable in the murder capital of the world," but she did wish bad karma on the thief.
"I hope some public shaming will do him good," she said.
Though she's opted not to replace the pumpkins, which were purchased from a farm in Michigan, Lyan said she still plans to celebrate Halloween with the same enthusiasm as she always has.
"We are not going to let that stinker deter us from enjoying the holiday," she said. "We are not discouraged by tricks; we will still serve treats on our front porch."
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