Restaurant Surveillance Video Turns Community Into Crime Fighters
PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - In Plano, restaurant surveillance video of a pair of brazen pickpockets has turned the community into online crime fighters determined to catch the crooks.
"I'd be furious," says Kelsey Tole, "absolutely furious... don't touch my purse." Tole says she keeps her purse close when dining out-- either "in my lap, or on the floor in front of my feet."
It's a reminder that comes too late for one Plano diner. Surveillance video from the Blue Goose Cantina on Park clearly shows the pair of pickpockets moving in. The man is seen noisily moving chairs about- perhaps announcing his presence so the targeted table won't turn around if he bumps the chair again. When he sits, it's with his jacket over his shoulder. The jacket also drapes the diner's open purse, left hanging on the back of her chair. Seconds later, he lifts the wallet, hands it under the table to his female accomplice and just that fast, they're gone.
"This is something unfortunately we see too often," says Plano Police spokesperson Officer David Tilley, "and it's not just hanging over the back of the chair in a restaurant, this is purses that are left unattended in a shopping cart at a grocery store." Tilley says investigators are thrilled that surveillance video of the crime has been viewed and shared so many times-- with at least a half million views on a number of sites- all within 24 hours of when it was first posted.
"It's unfortunate because we want to trust that everything's going to be safe; but, in reality you've got to keep an eye on your own property," says Ofc. Tilley.
Andrea Martinez admits: guilty as charged.
"Yeah…maybe I shouldn't put my purse there," says Martinez while dining at Blue Goose today. "That's where I always put my purse behind me." But, after watching the surveillance video of the wallet heist, she's vowing to be more careful. Meanwhile, customers like Kelsey are busy sharing the video to help locate the crooks.
"Because I feel like people just don't think about it-'oh, it's lunch time-I'm with my friends'," says Tole, "like it's natural to put your purse behind you and on the chair. But, that's not safe. Pickpockets and people like that are like 'ooh, swipe real quick!"
According to Plano police, investigators are also looking into whether the female accomplice in the weekend theft is connected to a rash of unsolved restaurant wallet thefts in the city back in April.
On Saturday, after leaving Blue Goose Cantina, the pair walked across the street, heading in the direction of another nearby restaurant.
"I was really disgusted," says Kelsey,"horrible people, horrible people."