How could you possibly improve the story of two 19-year-old women falling in love and going on a summer-long crime spree? What if I told you a lion was involved?

Allegedly, of course! Police in Upper Darby, Penn. (where the crimes took place) have not confirmed the existence of the lion, which our stars—Harley Rose Gifford (left) and Britney Singleton (right)—claim to have encountered in one of the homes they broke into, prompting a very quick turnaround. What has been confirmed, by Gifford and Singleton, is that the women burglarized 29 homes, and stole an impressive variety of stuff:

everything from flat-screen TVs to facial creams [...] Jewelry, video games, cameras, laptops, watches, $22,000 in cash, Euros, pesos, poker chips, $2 bills, toy ponies, toy cars, toilet paper, a .22-caliber revolver, a Sony PlayStation, a Nintendo Wii, knives, autographed baseballs, Crazy Glue, lubricated condoms, a Virgin Mary statue, sneakers, iPods and baby lotion [...] There are even reports of missing ice cream

They even appear to have stolen a 55-inch TV without a car, carrying the thing down the street back to their place. (The pair also ransacked the houses they were stealing from.) According to the cops, neither Gifford nor Singleton were stealing to support a drug habit—the burglaries were "their shopping spree," says Capt. George Rhoades.

Oh, and the lion, which both maintain separately to have seen in a house in the neighborhood of Cardington :

Police were continuing to check the home that reportedly held the lion. "If we find a lion it will be a bigger story than this," said Michael J. Chitwood, superintendent of police.

[Philly.com, Philly.com]