Brazen Belmont Thief Nabs Teachers Credit Cards From Her Purse At School: Police

BELMONT, CA — Belmont police are circulating two images of a woman who is suspected of stealing a local teacher's credit cards. From inside her purse. Inside an elementary school classroom.

It happened on Thursday, Aug. 31 around 12:15 p.m. at Belmont's Central Elementary School in the 500 block of Middle Road, according to Belmont Police Capt. Patrick Halleran. The woman, who is pictured above, apparently told staff at the school that she was there to pick up a child from kindergarten, which was letting out at the time. However she was allegedly up to something completely different while at the campus.

"Later that afternoon, a teacher received a fraud alert from her credit card company and discovered credit cards had been taken from her purse, which had been in a file cabinet in her classroom," Halleran said in a news release.

Halleran tells Patch that the woman did not end up picking up any child, and police believe that was just her excuse for being on the campus, hoping that she'd "... just disappear into the crowd and not be noticed."

The woman used the cards at several stores at the Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, according to the captain. She was caught on surveillance cameras in one of the uses, which is where police pulled the images from.

She's described as a black woman in her thirties, approximately 5 foot 8 inches tall, with long braided hair. She was wearing a blue t-shirt and shorts, with a colorful headband, Halleran said. When she was out shopping, she'd changed into a light colored baseball cap, white or lighter colored shirt, and jeans.

Anyone who may recognize the suspected thief is asked to call Belmont Police at 650-595-7400 or police@belmont.gov.

Images courtesy: Belmont Police Department