NEW LENOX TWP., Ill. (STNG) - You can count on a bad penny to turn up, but what about a big one?
A two-and-a-half foot solid copper penny mounted at the entrance of Lincoln-Way Central High School was stolen overnight Thursday.
The large replica penny was given to the school as a gift from the class of 1957, police said.
"It was a nice, nice emblem," said Lincoln-Way School District spokeswoman Stacy Holland.
Pat Barry, spokesman for the Will County Sheriff's Department, said the caper appears to be a theft and not some sort of high school prank.
"It was a legitimate theft, and it was probably for the copper, which is not unusual," he said.
Copper went for as little as 60 cents a pound less than 10 years ago. It now can cost more than $3 a pound, making theft of the metal a promising venture. Barry said railroad crossings and construction sites are often targeted by thieves.
As far as the case of the missing penny, police are still investigating the matter. Night security reported spotting youths in the school's west parking lot on the night of the crime, police said. A security guard was unaware how long the youths had been on the property, police said, and asked them to leave when he noticed they were around.
School staff saw the penny was missing when they arrived Friday morning.
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