Belleville’s mannequin thieves in love with the female form
Dawn ODell can’t help but wonder what’s inside the head of whoever keeps trying to run off with female mannequins from her clothing boutique in Belleville.
“The police initially thought it was a sex crime — somebody with a fetish for mannequins,” ODell said Friday.
That was in early May, when a string of female mannequin thefts and attempted thefts began in her eastern Ontario community.
Belleville police issued a news release describing two incidents of mannequin thievery in the last two weeks.
On July 14, the front door glass of a North Front St. business was smashed and two female mannequins were reported stolen.
Then on July 24, the same business was hit when someone broke the front door window again and stole four female mannequins.
Police didn’t immediately return a call from the Star on Friday.
ODell said she’s frustrated they haven’t returned a recent call of hers, either.
She said she is out close to $600 for the mannequins, as well as a swimsuit and three dresses they were wearing.
“It’s frustrating, of course,” she said. “It’s making me a little bit angry. . . . I don’t know what to think. It’s mindboggling.”
She said has replaced glass with Plexiglas, which thwarted a recent break-in attempt, although “they scratched the hell out of the Plexiglas trying.”
She finds herself looking at people a little differently now when they peer into her boutique.
“When there’s people walking by and they look at the mannequins, I just notice that more,” ODell said.
She said she’s now hanging clothing from ropes in her shop rather than buying more mannequins.
“You become creative in displaying your items,” ODell said. “I’m not about to replace the mannequins.”
Whoever hit Odell’s store didn’t take all the mannequins; they left behind “the cheaper ones,” she said.
Natasha Baylis, who runs Mrs. B’s Bath, Body and Gifts, has also been hit.
She lost a mannequin wearing a $15 dress on May 13, when the thief or thieves didn’t bother taking cash, a laptop or an iPad.
That break-in cost her about $415 for the window, mannequin and dress.
“They left one of the mannequin’s arms and half of her stand,” Baylis said. “It just fell as they were taking off with her.”
She noted that some people think it’s a prank while others think it’s a fetish.
“It’s very bizarre,” Baylis said. “It’s kind of creepy.”
She can’t help but wonder why certain downtown stores have been targeted and others left alone.
“There’s multiple stores downtown and they all have mannequins. Some of them are lingerie stores, and none of them have been broken into.”