The Teago General Store in South Pomfret, Vt., was robbed with the burglars taking donated gifts intended for Toy for Tots. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
The Teago General Store in South Pomfret, Vt., was robbed with the burglars taking donated gifts intended for Toy for Tots. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Credit: The Teago General Store in South Pomfret, Vt., was robbed with the burglars taking donated gifts intended for Toy for Tots. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

South Pomfret — Chuck Gundersen, owner of the Teago General Store, began Thursday morning like any other: He unlocked his shop around 7 a.m., put cash in the register, and rang up his regular customers as they trickled in.

It took about an hour for him to realize that something was wrong. A woman wanted to buy a pack of smokes, so he turned around to the shelf behind the counter where he usually keeps them.

Nothing.

“They got my cigarettes,” he recalled, standing at the register on Friday morning.

One or more burglars, police said later, had robbed the store late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, making off with dozens of packages and toys for children in need, in addition to the cigarettes.

The intruder or intruders took more than 25 unwrapped items donated to the Toys for Tots program, as well as several UPS packages that were on the floor next to the toy collection box, Gundersen said.

Then they broke into the adjoining post office and nabbed at least 40 more parcels.

“Am I distraught?” Gundersen asked a day after the break-in. “No. It goes with the territory. If you have cigarettes and beer, you’re going to get broken into.”

In his 30 years running the store, Gundersen said, he’s been robbed eight times. These thieves, he said, took only about $700 in cigarettes and left the alcohol untouched.

The real blow for him and for other Pomfret residents, he said, was the loss of the Toys for Tots donations — and the other packages, many of which likely were holiday presents.

Carlene Hewitt, a former employee of Gundersen’s, stopped in to the store on Friday to make a purchase. On her way out, she paused to wrap an arm around his shoulder.

Hewitt said she had dropped off a bag of toys on Tuesday.

“To take them away from kids — that’s just wrong,” she said.

As of Friday morning, Vermont State Police and the U.S. Postal Service were still investigating the burglary.

State police have asked anyone with knowledge of the incident to call the Royalton barracks at 802-234-9933.

Troopers also are working to replace the lost toys, according to a Friday news release from Vermont State Police.

Those who wish to donate to Toys for Tots to replace the lost items can bring gifts to the organization’s White River Junction location at 27 Farmview Drive, the release said.

The thousands of children in the region who depend on Toys for Tots, a nonprofit run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve that distributes toys to children whose parents can’t afford them, likely will not be deprived of their holiday gifts, however.

White River Junction Toys for Tots coordinator Rick Maynard said on Friday that his branch had been having a “bumper year,” with more than 30,000 gifts donated and around 6,000 children due to receive them.

“After the story broke … we were getting phone calls left and right about residents wanting to help out,” Maynard said in a Friday telephone interview.

Local businesses have been chipping in too, Maynard said.

Yet this is the second year in the row that someone has stolen from Toys for Tots in the Upper Valley, he said. Last year, someone robbed the donation box in Randolph.

Maynard said these incidents may force him to take precautions, including insisting that each of his branch’s 180 donation boxes be placed in view of a cash register, and that only the nonprofit’s official drivers or people carrying a credential be allowed to collect the donations.

“I always thought nobody was ever going to steal the boxes,” he said. “We got to rethink that.”

Meanwhile, the burglar (or burglars) may be looking at federal charges if apprehended, a postal service spokesman said on Friday.

Stealing from the post office “is a federal crime,” said Steve Doherty, the organization’s regional spokesman.

“The penalties … are much harsher, much more severe. It’s usually something we don’t see.”

The theft of already-delivered packages is much more common — especially of those left out on stoops or in mailboxes, he said.

The postal service has used its package tracking system to contact the senders of the stolen goods, and has given them information to file claims, Doherty said.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “Many of these packages were possibly intended as Christmas presents that they’re going to have to scramble to replace.”

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.