Neoseeker : News : Man steals consoles intended for cancer patients, EA steps up

Man steals consoles intended for cancer patients, EA steps up

Lydia Sung - Friday, December 10, 2010 2:03pm (PST) Like (2) +my favourites (2)

Publisher saves Christmas with generous donation

We'd love to think of the holidays as a time of cheer and goodwill, but crime also goes up around Christmas time. Supply and demand, folks, and recently, some douche decided to acquire his supply of video game systems from a hospital.

Surveillance cameras caught a man breaking into an office at the Carolinas Medical Center in North Carolina, between 9:00 and 10:00 AM on Saturday. He then made off with five gaming systems, including some Xbox consoles, that were originally intended for young cancer patients. Yeah, this guy stole from children with cancer.

Kevin McCarthy, spokesman for the Carolinas HealthCare System, commented to the press:

“You really have to wonder about somebody who would take something from kids who are really having a tough time. This helps give them a little comfort while they're going through the treatment."

This story does have a happy ending though. Folks at EA caught the story on Kotaku and promptly contacted CMC about replacing the stolen consoles. An EA rep explained:

"This story really struck us at EA. We can't believe someone would do this right before Christmas and victimize kids recovering from cancer no less. We've made contact with the hospital and EA's going to step up to replace the Carolinas Medical Center's consoles before Christmas and hook them up with new games as well. Hopefully this will brighten up the kids' holidays."

Despite the surveillance footage, police still haven't caught the guy and have turned to the public for help. We'd recommend he be strung up and turned into a Christmas pinata for the children, but he'll probably be having way more fun in prison when the other inmates find out what he's in for.

Source: WSOC Charlotte

Sections: Microsoft Consoles, Console Games

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8 thumbs! ^

Dragoshi1 Dec 10, 10

Good job EA. Good thing these kids won't go a christmas without, considering the illness they have and all.

6 thumbs! ^

jbh Dec 10, 10

Cancer's a terrible thing that I've lost too many friends to...

Good job EA.

-8 thumbs! ^

Northern49 Dec 10, 10

IT WAS ME. A HA HA HA.

-4 thumbs! ^

Darkness1000 Dec 10, 10

I'm in NC.

Although I'm a bit far away from CMC.

-9 thumbs! ^

Grimdark Dec 10, 10

I like the tone of disgust in this article.

I highly doubt the man knew who they were for patient wise. It's just a theft, sucks, but that's life.

Staff

5 thumbs! ^

RabidChinaGirl Dec 10, 10

quote DC Sniper
It's just a theft, sucks, but that's life.

I assure you, theft/robbery is a terrible thing, regardless of timing or who the victims are. Also, he stole from a place called "Carolinas MEDICAL CENTER." I highly doubt he waltzed in thinking he was about to rob a Best Buy.

1 thumbs! ^

AznLiquid Dec 10, 10

quote DC Sniper
I like the tone of disgust in this article. I highly doubt the man knew who they were for patient wise. It's just a theft, sucks, but that's life.

He broke into a treatment office, he clearly knew why those consoles were there.

-9 thumbs! ^

Grimdark Dec 10, 10

Well, if the packages said 'Addressed to cancer patient Lily'...then...

3 thumbs! ^

chautemoc Dec 10, 10

It was you, wasn't it?

2 thumbs! ^

ShadowJ Dec 10, 10

Guy should be hung...it's one thing to steal but...yeah I will leave it at that..I do actually hope however that the family and friends of the kids find him and hand out some justice for almost ruining Christmas for them...then again I have been through the worse case scenario of what the family and friends are going through and believe me...cancer isn't fun.

All I will say is and yes this is blunt, right in your face and probably something not anyone wants to hear but "terminally ill" means no cure...it means family and friends get to watch their loved one slowly lose a battle, no matter how hard their loved one fights it...their body shuts down from the inside out and so when it comes to terminally ill patients, they are made comfortable, they are given things to take their mind off it all and enjoy their last moments (depending on how long they have been estimated to have...some could have years, others may have just mere days)

This guy has pretty much gone in with no care of any of the above...his reason? Could be justified, could be that he needs the money, maybe he really doesn't care and thought they won't need them...no matter his thought pattern, someone stepped up and said "this is wrong" and then further rectified the issue.

-7 thumbs! ^

Grimdark Dec 10, 10

So I haven't clicked the source, busy and all that, but Lydia quotes twice about 'young cancer patients' and 'recovering' but both of those say nothing about terminally ill cancer?

3 thumbs! ^

keyblade336 Dec 10, 10

Other People at the prison when they catch him are gonna beat the everloving crap out of him when they know what he did

2 thumbs! ^

Moop Dec 10, 10

This is despicable, I'm actually disgusted somebody would do that. Like ShadowJ said, he should be punished severely. It's bad enough to steal, but to steal something from terminally ill children is something else.

Good job EA, you did the right thing

Staff

3 thumbs! ^

RabidChinaGirl Dec 10, 10

quote DC Sniper
So I haven't clicked the source, busy and all that, but Lydia quotes twice about 'young cancer patients' and 'recovering' but both of those say nothing about terminally ill cancer?

The spokesman says "going through the treatment," so "terminally ill" has been removed. Good catch.