Hairy Hiding Place Sends Miami Woman To Jail
HOLLYWOOD (CBSMiami.com) - A Miami woman is facing a grand theft charge for what might be considered a hair-raising crime, solved only when Hollywood police convinced her to flip her wig. Underneath the fake hair, they found real money and a very strange hiding place.
Police arrested 20-year-old Esther Armbrister Monday as she tried to say a fast goodbye to a man she had been visiting at the Diplomat hotel on Hollywood Beach. According to the arrest report, the man, a hotel guest from New York, and Armbrister spent the night in his room.
When the morning arrived, the hotel guest decided he needed to check his wallet, and found it a little light, he told police. He expected to find a bankroll of twenties, wrapped with $100 bills. What he found was just the twenties, and when he asked his guest, who he knew as Brooke Evans, if she had the cash, he got was a denial.
"Brooke" told her host that she hadn't taken his money, and according to the arrest report, she turned out her pockets and removed her bra to show she was not hiding hundreds.
She high-tailed it out of the room, trailed by her host, who didn't buy her story since there were just 2 people in the room and someone had to have the cash.
He called for help from hotel security, who called police.
While Armbrister gave police the fake name, Hollywood cops can check fingerprints electronically on the spot, and that check gave them Armbrister's true identity. She tried to tell police the only money she had was in her purse, but officers did their own search, and found Armbrister has more than a purse to use for cash.
Underneath her glued-on wig, police claimed they found 15 one hundred dollar bills and 6 twenties, money her gentleman friend claimed was his. Confronted with the hairy hiding place, the arrest report said Armbrister 'fessed up, admitting getting the cash from her hosts's shorts while he wasn't looking, and hiding it under her hair.
Police have the cash now, taken as evidence when they charged Armbrister with grand theft and resisting an officer. She was ordered held without bond when police found she had an outstanding court order on another charge.
