Suspect sought in theft of food delivery meant for 99-year-old
MIAMI - Hialeah police need your help identifying someone after a 99-year-old woman says she was cruelly victimized when a bag with her daily food delivery in it was stolen from in front of her apartment.
CBS News Miami's Peter D'Oench obtained exclusive Ring Cam video that police say shows the woman who they need to find.
The video shows her quickly moving to the front of the woman's apartment between 6 and 7 in the morning on June 21st and photos show her clutching a white bag with food inside it and then riding away on a bicycle with someone else.
The video of her matches photos on the Hialeah police need-to-identify flyer.
Hialeah Police Sgt. Jose Torres said, "This is a very sad situation where the victim, who is almost 100 years old, didn't have a nutritious meal on that day."
Torres said it is not known if this was a case of food insecurity and if the person who stole the food was desperately in need of it or not.
He said, "I am hoping it was because that person needed a meal but there are other options and now you are depriving a person of that meal."
As she spoke to D'Oench in Spanish, Pevida said the food was delivered to her every weekday through an arrangement with her insurance company and she said, "They stole my food. I don't know who it was but we have her on video. It was rice and meat and veggies. I count on this food. It is food I get every day, Monday through Friday. I was surprised. I did not like that. It hurt my feelings."
Pevida has lived in the apartment for nearly 40 years and says she did not recognize the woman seen on the ring cam video. Pevida, who has three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, turns 100 on July 14th. She is discouraged by what happened as she is on a fixed income.
She said, "Of course, it feels bad. No one likes to have their food stolen. You should not take food from anyone else. It is a bad thing to do. It has never happened to me before."
Torres said the woman who police are looking for appears to be between 21 and 26 years old.
He said, "Detectives are asking now for the public's help. Look at the images. See if you recognize this individual. This person right now has not come to our radar because if it's a person that was on our radar we would have already identified her and taken her into custody."
Torres offered some advice.
He said, "We advise anyone who is going to receive a package, if it's food or any other type of property, try to find a safe location. There are many services where you can have the food delivered and it will be safe and you will have sufficient time to pick it up."
Pevida said she had a message for the person who stole her food.
She said "Please, the people who stole my food, they should find a job and earn a decent living and buy their own food. I am not going to die from this but I do not appreciate what happened."
Anyone who can help identify the woman should call Hialeah Police at (305) 687-2525.