West Covina beauty store employee with autism targeted by thieves after video of her achievements goes viral
An investigation is underway in West Covina after thieves targeted a beauty store over the weekend. Store owners believe that one employee who has autism was targeted after a video they shared honoring her achievements recently went viral.
Emily Estrada works at Infinite Glow Makeup Studio, where she is pursuing her career goal of becoming a professional makeup artist.
"People request me to do their makeup for special occasions," Estrada said while speaking with CBS News Los Angeles.
Recently, the store's CEO shared a video on social media honoring Emily's achievements and the fact that she was named employee of the month.
"We wanted to make her feel special and thank her for all the hard work she's been doing with us," said Montserrat Espejel, the CEO of Infinite Glow Makeup.
In that video, Emily says that one thing that makes her unique is that she's on the autism spectrum. While working, she wears a pin on her shirt that discloses her hidden disability, prompting customers to be patient with her. She thinks it was sharing that personal message that made her a target.
"It was really confusing for me," Emily said. "I just didn't know what they were doing."
Espejel says that the women tricked her into allowing them to walk out of the store with stolen merchandise.
Surveillance footage from inside the store shows the women waiting in the corner of the store until Emily is alone. It's then that they reach over the counter, tap on her register, and tell her that they will help her scan a fake gift card on their phone in order to make a payment.
Emily says that they never paid, instead leaving with $400 of goods that were unpaid for.
"I was anxious and having a panic attack at the end of the night. I was worried once the owner found out I was gonna get fired," Emily said.
In turn, it has been just the opposite. All of her coworkers are lifting her up and helping her move on from the jarring incident.
"In this world today we're missing graciousness, we're missing kindness," said Nora Zelaya, Emily's mother.
She said that while she's proud of her daughter for moving forward, the situation has broken her heart.
"I wish they knew that everybody out there has a situation, and you never know what they're going through. So you should always be kind," Zelaya said.
As for Emily, she says that she's continuing to focus on furthering her makeup training and achieving her goals. She also hopes that people can be a little more compassionate.
"Treat with more patience, I would say. And treat with more understanding."
West Covina Police Department has taken a police report on the incident, which they say they will be investigating as a petty theft.
