The Comox Valley RCMP are looking for a man who stole a life size Justin Bieber cardboard cutout from the Shoppers Drug Mart in downtown Courtenay.
The teenage heartthrob's likeness walked out of the store on the night of Nov. 11 under the arm of a man wearing a dark toque and vest, grey long sleeve shirt and dark pants.
The Bieber thiever was not the first to strike in the Comox Valley; about a month ago, the cardboard cutout was stolen only to appear briefly at Goose Spit before returning to the store via courier two hours later. Last year, about 40 of the cutouts were stolen from Shoppers Drug Mart stores across the country.
Despite being made of cardboard, it seems the Valley's Biebs still had a magnetic pull on women.
"He's like a craze," said Brenda Murray, cosmetics department manager at the Courtenay store. "It's like when the Beatles or Elvis were big and women were passing out. And it's not just 13- and 14-year-olds. We're talking women in their 40s and 50s coming in to take pictures with him."
The singer's likeness is so popular that last year, store employees in Courtenay raised $350 for Look Good Feel Better, a charity that helps women battling cancer, when they raffled off tickets for the chance to take him home permanently. This year they planned to do the same, but they can't unless the cardboard cutout is returned.
"When I called last year's winner and told her she'd won, the line went dead. Her dad came on and said she was crying," said Murray. "He's part of the store now. I'd love to have him back and to give him a proper sendoff."
Murray is reserving judgment, but after viewing security video stills of the alleged thief, she had this to say: "They're not Bieber fans."
The real Justin Bieber performed during the halftime show of yesterday's Grey Cup.
Anyone with information on the (cardboard) Biebers whereabouts is asked to call Cst. A. McBride of the Comox Valley RCMP at 250-338-1321.
