After a recent rash of cigarette thefts in Monroe County, particularly Newport brand, an author of a Craigslist ad offering discounted cigarettes says she just quit, and is not a thief.
The Webster woman posted two ads on the site — the first featuring a couple cartons that would be available after quitting smoking. After realizing someone may not want to buy the whole carton, she posted a second ad on Sunday that offered the packs for $5 — a far cry from the average $10 per pack in the store.
When contacted by phone Tuesday morning, the woman says she recently quit smoking and had cartons left over. To remove the temptation from her home, she was trying to get rid of the cigarettes and figured Craigslist would be a good, safe place to do so. She was not aware of the rash of thefts across the county.
After being told about the thefts, which have netted nearly 500 packs of Newport cigarettes around Monroe County in the past month, she has decided to remove the posting from the free classified site.
Across the county, dozens of packs of cigarettes, namely Newports, have been taken in thefts from convenience stores and gas stations.
One man has done it so often in Webster that the police department now has a confirmed identity of the suspect and has issued two arrest warrants for him. Police are seeking Gerald Firth, 23, in the thefts.
Police are not certain if there is one concentrated group seeking out the cigarettes, or if it is a number of unrelated thefts. Since the tax hike on July 1, nearly half of the year's major grabs reported to the Sheriff's Office were in July.
