Car recovered; phones for troops missing

A car that was stolen Monday carrying about 500 cellphones to benefit troops overseas was found yesterday in Weymouth, about a quarter mile from where it was last seen, police said.

A window was smashed and the phones were gone, said Weymouth police Sergeant Rick Fuller.

The stolen 1990 Oldsmobile was found at 11:45 a.m. at Old Stone Condominiums, around the corner from the Weymouth Elks Club, where it was taken on Monday between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., said Fuller

"We weren't sure if it was targeted for the car or the phones, but after finding it a quarter of a mile away, [we can assume] it was for the cellphones," said Fuller.

The car was stolen while its owner, Rick Bruce, was in the Elks Club, where he was decorating the facility for a Veterans Day drive for CarePacks, a group based in South Weymouth that sends care packages to troops.

Bruce, 49, a CarePacks volunteer from South Weymouth, said that when he went out to his car all he saw was glass and a rock.

CarePacks planned to give the phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers, a Norwell nonprofit group started by two teenagers.

The group sells the cellphones to a recycling center, then buys prepaid phone cards, which are shipped to military personnel.

"I can't believe that someone would go to a Veterans Day event and steal a car that was loaded [with boxes] in the back," said Bob Bergquist, president of Cell Phones for Soldiers.

His children, Robbie and Brittany, started the group.

"Those phones would have bought 500 hours of talk time for soldiers," he said.

Bergquist said that since news broke of the theft, the City of Quincy has donated 350 phones and a Massachusetts-based company donated 100.

"It goes to show that the heart of Americans, when it comes to soldiers, whether they support the war or not, they support the soldiers," he said.

Police plan to have an evidence technician look over the car for fingerprints, said Fuller.

Globe correspondent Caitlin Castello contributed to this report.