If You Recognize Either of These Women, Please Tell Darien Police

Darien police detectives have released photos of two women who, police say, are suspected of buying items in area stores with credit cards stolen from a woman hours before at Panera Bread restaurant in Darien.

“If anyone knows the identity of the subjects in these photos,” police said in a news release Monday, “they are asked to contact the Darien Police Detective Division at 203-662-5330.”

The thieves worked fast: The victim arrived at the restaurant at 12:45 p.m. and credit cards from it were being drained as early as 2:30 p.m. — 90 minutes before she realized that she didn’t have her wallet in her purse.

Darien police gave this account:

The 70-year-old Fairfield woman whose wallet was stolen told police she removed the wallet from her purse to pay for her food at the restaurant (located at 1063 Post Rd.). Then put the wallet back in her purse, which she didn’t zip back up. The restaurant was crowded that day, and the woman stayed there with friends until about 3 p.m.

At 4 p.m., the victim received a text message from Chase bank telling her that $637.04 had been charged to her Chase credit card at the Target store in Stamford. That was when she checked her purse and found the wallet missing.

The wallet also had credit cards for Macy’s, Lord and Taylor, Banana Republic, Bank of America, Citibank and AT&T, along with her driver’s license, Social Security card and Medicaid card. There was also $80 in cash — chump change, compared to what the thieves stole — more than $3,500 in total.

They went on a shopping spree. In addition to Target, they went to:

• A Starbucks in Stamford (the police report was unclear which one it was), where they spent $54.41
• Exxon Mobil’s Tri S Mobile gas station in Darien — $31.50 and $16.43 spent
• Walmart in Norwalk — $955.02
• Staples in the Riverside section of Greenwich — $3.91
• Macy’s in Stamford — $1,900

The photo attached to this article shows one of the women at Target. Here’s another photo, taken at 2:30 p.m. that day, of both women at Walmart.