Police Searching For Woman Accused Of Stealing From Restaurants Across State Lines
STAMFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) - Police are offering a reward to help nab a repeat-robber that has been targeting restaurants in New York and Connecticut.
Caught on camera over and over again, police believe that a woman has stolen more than $20,000 from restaurants across state lines.
One by one, managers and owners showed CBS 2 how she did it
She would allegedly stake them out before striking, always going through a back entrance, police said. She'd casually walk in wearing plain clothes, break into manager's offices and ransack them. The most shocking part of all is that it happened during normal business hours, and most of the time no one noticed.
"I don't know how she can have the nerve," Angela Wang, owner of Tengda in Stamford, told CBS 2's Amy Dardashtian.
Wang was robbed of $8,000.
"Over $10,000 in payroll checks we had to cancel," Wang added.
When the woman was stopped on her way out, Wang said that she told an employee she was looking for the bathroom. A month later, the woman allegedly struck nearby Bar Rosso and Tigin Irish Pub, where she couldn't get into the office but managed to swipe an employee's purse. She later ran into that employee on her way out.
"The lady came down the stairwell, she walked by [the employee] and [the employee] said, 'Hey, what are you doing?'," Ian Fulton, manager of Tigin Irish Pub, said. "She noticed the purse and chased her down."
And her latest strike -- at Rangoli in New Rochelle -- was caught on video.
She made her way in through a dark service entrance below the restaurant, walked down a hallway and went straight into the office, where she made off with $13,000.
Seven months and four restaurants later, police are offering $2,500 to help catch her.
Owners are still reeling over the woman's nerve.
"It just makes you so mad," Wang said.
Police also believe that the alleged restaurant-robber cleaned out a dry cleaners in Cross River, New York.
How has the repeat-robber managed to get away with this time and time again? Sound off with your thoughts and comments below...
