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$1,000 in change stolen from Virginia Beach home

Posted at 11:33 PM, Feb 18, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-19 12:52:44-05

Virginia Beach, Va. - A Virginia Beach couple is devastated after more than $1,000 in change was stolen from their home last week.

Half the change was in a five gallon water jug, the other half was a collection of rolled state quarters, a project of Lori Skytta's.

"It’s heartbreaking," Lori Skytta says. "It is. I mean, it may not seem like a lot to a lot of people, but it was a lot for me."

A roll of Michigan quarters is all that's left after more than a decade of collecting.

On Valentine’s Day, Lori’s husband Dan came home and realized thieves had broken in through a side door and ransacked their upstairs bedroom. Instead of taking jewelry or TVs, they took change.

"It was hard to tell right away because they really trashed our room,” Dan Skytta says. “It looks like they were looking for liquid assets."

Lori had completed rolls for about half the states. She was planning to hand over the collection to her newborn grandson.

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"I thought this is something I could pass on to him, maybe put into a college fund for him or do something that would benefit him in the long run and you know, now it's gone,” she says.

In the end, the Skyttas say they were lucky only money was taken.

"I just hope the police can find the person or people who did it and nobody else has to experience this,” Lori Skytta says.

The Skyttas believe there were at least two thieves because of how heavy the change is. They are asking police to check with businesses around their Kempsville neighborhood to see if anyone has cashed in a large amount of change, possibly at banks or coin counting machines.