Man cited for allegedly taking toy from donation box

A 21-year-old Glendale man who stopped by the Police Department to pay a parking ticket ended up leaving with a citation for petty theft after he took a Jenga game from a toy donation box for low-income families.

Vruyr Nazaryan was cited Dec. 8 on suspicion of petty theft after a police officer noticed that he had allegedly taken the wood block game from the Cops For Kids donation box located in police headquarters, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

Police, who run the program, hand out the collected gifts to low-income Glendale families for Christmas.

After noticing the gift was missing, the officer exited the building, walked out to Nazaryan’s car and asked him why he took the game from the box, according to police reports.

Nazaryan allegedly told the officer that he hadn’t completely read the instructions on the donation box and grabbed it for his little brother because he “thought he would enjoy it.”

The officer explained to Nazaryan that the gifts weren’t free and would be given to needy families, according to the report.

Nazaryan reportedly offered to donate more toys, but the officer told him that he should have never taken the toy in the first place and gave him a citation, according to police.