PONTIAC, Mich. - Some girls in Pontiac set up a lemonade stand to make a few bucks only to get ripped off by some cold-hearted thieves.
"At my school, we were doing this little benefit, and that got me thinking that I was going to try and raise some money," said nine-year-old Serena Inglsbee.
So, that's what she did. Serena and her eight-year-old, twin stepsisters set up a lemonade stand right in front of their Pontiac house on Cornell. They spent most of the weekend selling their refreshing drinks for a dollar a glass.
They were raking it in and stuffing the cash in Serena's special jewelry box. They planned to donate it to a children's charity, that is until their next three customers showed up.
"One guy looked in the jewelry box to see how much money (we had) earned, like 40 bucks... He took the jewelry box... said, 'Thanks for the delivery,' and took off running down the road," Inglsbee said. "We screamed, 'Mom they took our money,' and my mom ran down the road after them."
When mom realized what had happened, she became enraged. She decided to chase after the three teens. With her cell phone in hand, she dialed 911 and then stayed with them, yelling at them until police arrived.
"Evil Danny came out, and I don't let her come out very often. But Evil Danny came out because it's one thing to steal from me, but don't steal from my kids. Don't mess with my kids," said Danielle Behan.
Police caught two of the teenage crooks, but unfortunately the third one got away. He pocketed the profits, but dropped the jewelry box as he ran away, a now busted jewelry box that had special meaning to Serena.
"My dad gave it to me before he died," she said.
It was a lot for the little girls to deal with, but they are not giving up. Since word got out about what happened donations have been pouring in.
"She pulled on my heart strings," said one man who donated.
It's that kind of response that has inspired the little girls to give it another try. On July 31, you'll see them circled around their plastic tubs and pitchers of lemonade hoping to earn enough money to donate to the needy kids.
"Very proud. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right, like I'm raising them the way they should be raised," said Keith Aldrich, proud father and stepfather.
"I'm not going to let one bad thing happen to me and ruin the fun," said Inglsbee.
