A couple of quarters here, a dollar there, and pretty soon you've got a serious chunk of change — $33,676, to be precise.

That's the amount Manheim Township police allege a former Lititz man stole from Coca-Cola vending machines he was hired to service during an 18-month period.

Axel A. Carlson, 32, has been charged with theft for taking the money from machines in Lancaster and York counties, from January 2008 to June 2009.

Sgt. Keith Kreider said Carlson's job was to fill machines with sodas and collect the money from them, which he did. But as he did it, he steadily put a little bit of the proceeds in his own pocket.

"It was a dollar or two, from a bunch of machines," he said. "The objective was to take smaller amounts, basically to avoid detection."

It worked for a time, but Coca-Cola eventually caught up to Carlson, did its own investigation and turned over the information to police.

Carlson lived on Pennwick Drive in Lititz at the time of the thefts but has since left that address. Police believe he now lives just south of the New York border in Shinglehouse, Potter County.

His exact whereabouts are not known at this time. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

E-mail: cstauffer@lnpnews.com