LEAWOOD, Kan. – Surveillance video allows a good look at a thief in action. Leawood police said it’s one of the more brazen thefts they’ve seen. They believe at least three people, well organized and fearless, are involved.
At first the video looks like an average day at a coffee shop, but a couple minutes into it, you won’t believe your eyes. A large man gets on his hands and knees, then lays on his stomach and reaches under a chair to steal a wallet from a woman’s purse, all while the victim sits there with no clue whatsoever.
“That’s what’s bad, I was just really focused on my computer and hurrying up and getting stuff done, it was a Friday, just needed to get things done,” the victim, whose identity we’re concealing, said.
We are concealing the woman’s identity for her safety, but she was more than happy to share her story and beat herself up a little in the process.
I never really thought, ‘Why me?’ Because initially, how stupid of me for being so distracted on my computer, but I felt really violated because I felt like I was in a safe place,” she said.
Looking back at the tape before the belly bandit strikes, you can see the victim is focused on her computer. She doesn’t see the man, and the woman with him, doing surveillance of their own. At one point they move to a different table to get a better view, and the man strikes.
“At first I was I like, ‘Heck yea I want to see what happened!’ I almost wish I wouldn’t have watched the video tape because it was really shocking, and like I said, really violating,” she said.
The incident was so creepy that the experience forever changed the woman’s routine any time she’s in public.
“I’m a little weary when I sit down, I try not to put it out of my sight, put it right in front of me,” she said.
It taught her a lesson she hopes others will learn: Pay attention. Police agree and hope you will also pay attention to these pictures of alleged accomplices. They too were caught on surveillance, using the stolen credit cards.
Police believe the same people are responsible for several recent thefts, they’ve gotten away with thousands of dollars so far.
