‘Chicken’ thieves lay an egg with theft attempt

A late-night prank by three Corbin High School students resulted in their arrest Sunday, and the trio will now have to answer to felony theft charges in court.
According to Corbin Police, three 16-year-old male students tried to steal a giant fiberglass chicken perched in front of Convenient Food Mart on Cumberland Falls Hwy. in Corbin early Sunday morning. The chicken is used to advertise Broaster Chicken – a brand sold by the store.
Authorities say they received an anonymous call from a resident of Forrest Circle Apartments, just above the store. The caller watched as the three boys attempted to make their escape with the large bird.
“When I got there, they had pushed the chicken into one of the car wash stalls at Bell’s Car Wash, right next to Convenient,” Corbin Police Officer Robbie Hodge said.
All three juveniles were wearing masks when police arrived on the scene. Hodge said they had apparently taken the chicken over to the car wash stall to hook it up to a pick-up truck they had parked there. Police say they did this to avoid detection by nearby surveillance cameras.
Hodge, along with Officer Jason Williams, arrested two of the suspects. The third fled on foot.
“I chased him across the parking lot, but he got away,” Hodge said. “After talking to the other two, we called the one who ran away on his cell phone. He wouldn’t answer, so we called his father.”
Hodge said the boy’s father convinced him to turn himself into to police a short time later.
“They said they were just going to put it down by the high school and paint something on it,” Hodge said. “Their parents were pretty upset.”
All three were charged with theft over $300. The juvenile who fled also faces charges of fleeing and evading police.
The juveniles were released to their parents’ custody following the arrests.