Wallets Swiped From Shoppers At Darien Whole Foods, Cops Say

DARIEN, CT — In two separate incidents last week, thieves preyed on unsuspecting shoppers at the Darien Whole Foods market by distracting the victims and then stealing the wallets from purses in shopping carts, according to police. In one case, the thieves rang up more than $3,100 worth of illegal purchases on credit cards stolen from one of the victims.

The first case occurred at about 1 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the Ledge Road store, when the victim noticed her wallet was missing when she went to pay for groceries. In addition to about $30 in cash, the stolen wallet also had the victim's driver's license and several bank/credit cards.

"A review of the store’s security footage revealed that it appeared the purse was taken by a group of three women working together," stated Darien Police Det. James Palmieri. "On the video, one of the women engages the victim in conversation while the other two remove the wallet from her purse during the distraction."

By the next day, approximately $3,172 worth of fraudulent purchases had been made on the stolen credit cards before the victim was able to get the cards canceled, according to Palmieri.

In the second incident, which occurred at about 1:45 p.m. on Dec. 14, a wallet was stolen from the purse of a woman while she was ordering at the sushi counter.

"A review of the video footage confirmed her suspicion, showing a male suspect following her for a few minutes, at one point looking into her purse, before she went to the sushi counter," said Palmieri. "Once there, a female is seen approaching the victim and removing her wallet from her purse while the victim is distracted. The purse had been in the child-seat portion of the shopping cart."

Image via Shutterstock

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