Police officers expecting to discover art thieves actually find a bunch of raccoons

The raccoons caught in the act of vandalizing an art gallery.

(Image credit: Facebook.com/NewportPolice)

published 13 November 2015

These aren't your typical masked bandits.

Four members of a Newport, Oregon, raccoon gang were caught in the act when police officers found them inside the Inscapes Gallery, huddled together on a ladder while claiming to be rearranging art on the wall.

On its Facebook page, the Newport Police Department said officers recently responded to a report of suspicious activity after midnight, and came across the nefarious crew. "[We] cornered the suspects immediately upon entering the business," the post said. "The suspects, known only by their street names of 'Home Dog,' 'Da Nails,' 'Squeaky Feets,' and '2-Toes Todd' attempted to elude officers on scene. After a brief scuffle, all suspects were captured without further incident or injuries." The posse was last spotted headed towards a jewelry store.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.