Attempted Salvation Army kettle thefts

Salvation Army volunteers are usually the ones doing the bell ringing. Tuesday in Conway though, the volunteers almost had their bells rung.

"I think it's about as bad a crime as you can commit," said David Owen who has donated money to the Salvation Army recently.

Fred Merker, another donor, said, "that's ridiculous to tell you the truth."

Salvation Army representatives told Conway police that at a JCPenney and at a Walmart, a car of four people pulled up, pointed a gun, and demanded the volunteers' kettles.

"Desperate, low," described Ofc. Sean Canady. "I mean you don't steal from charities."

Police don't have all of the Walmart incident details yet, but in the JCPenney hold-up, the bell ringer refused to give up his kettle and the would-be thieves sped away.

"If someone's pointing a gun at you, give them the material things," Canady said. "You can get it back, you can't get the life back so it's not worth the risk."

So far, no arrests have been made but people who've donated their money to the Salvation Army have some ideas on what to do with the crooks once police catch them.

"I'd like to see them go to prison for it to tell you the truth," explained Merker.

As for Owen, he has a slightly different idea, saying, "have them walk around with a sign that [reads] 'I stole from Salvation Army.'"

Right now, all police know about the four suspects is that two are male and two are female. As for the Salvation Army, they referred all questions to police.