Video captures smiling man walking up to kids' lemonade stand and running away after snatching their money

Two Virginia children were disappointed when a man grabbed the money from their lemonade stand and ran off with it, but the community has responded to make sure the little entrepreneurs didn't give up.

10-year-old Rebecca Caldwell and her younger brother Josh Caldwell told WAVY-TV they were trying to raise money in hopes of buying a dirt bike for him and a four-wheeler for her.

'We want him to become a Christian and have a good life.'

Instead, surveillance video captured the man as he drove up the stand, got out of his car, and grabbed their money before running off.

Police said the incident unfolded on Wednesday at about noon at the kids' home on Bells Mill Road.

“We already got $40. It seemed pretty good, and then the guy came,” Rebecca said. “He acted really nice. He was just saying, like, ‘Nice, y’all are doing a lemonade stand.’ And then he was getting pretty close, but my back was turned so I didn’t really realize.”

The video shows the kids running inside to tell their mother.

Police said they were looking for a white man in his 30s with a goatee and tattoos. The video showed him driving a silver Toyota four-door sedan.

Their father said the worst part of the incident was the loss of innocence.

“I don’t think it’s really even about the money,” Ryan said. “They just like doing it and being out here and seeing people. We don’t want that stolen away from them, you know, we want the fun, the innocence, to remain. So that’s probably the worst part — the stolen innocence involved.”

WAVY reported that viewers donated money to the children's cause, but Rebecca hopes the thief turns his life around.

“We want him to become a Christian and have a good life, but we would say not go to jail, more community service, stuff like that,” she said.

WAVY posted a video with interviews with the children on YouTube.

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