Canada - LE seek elderly thief of designer purse, cash, stolen at Toronto art gallery

http://www.cp24.com/news/elderly-wo...itton-purse-snatched-from-ago-lobby-1.2445426

"Toronto Police say they are looking for a small, frail, elderly woman after an expensive designer purse with a large amount of cash in it was stolen from the lobby of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

The theft occurred last month on Sunday, May 17 at around 3:50 p.m."

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" “It appears to be a crime of opportunity,” Hominuk said. “It was an expensive Louis Vuitton purse.”

He said the purse and the cash inside are valued at more than $5,000.

Police say they are now looking for a suspect described as an Asian woman, approximately 75 years old and standing about five-foot-two. She has a thin, frail build with greyish, white, shoulder-length hair. She walks slowly with a limp and was last seen wearing a dark jacket, pink flowery blouse and carrying a blue shopping bag."
rbbm.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/police-seek-elderly-woman-in-ago-purse-theft-1.3131919

"Police say they found the purse discarded in the area of the AGO about a week after the theft.

Investigators call the purse-snatching a crime of opportunity, and say from the surveillance footage it's clear that the woman is stealing the purse.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at 222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...heft-1.3131919

http://globalnews.ca/news/2081511/police-searching-for-elderly-woman-in-theft-of-purse-at-ago/

"Police said a woman walked into the gallery at 317 Dundas St. W. and sat in a waiting area near the main entrance next to an 18-year-old woman on May 17.

Investigators said the victim was showing another woman something on her laptop when the elderly suspect then allegedly slid the victim’s purse under a chair.

She then allegedly looked around to see if anyone had noticed her move the purse, which contained a large amount of money and items valued at $7,500, and police said she then walked off with it"

What did they use for a security camera? A toaster? Hard to believe that an art gallery with millions in rare art wouldn't have the most advanced security cameras. Also I notice that the incident happened on May 17th. and yet Toronto Police are only releasing this imagery now?

KEVINinTO said:

What did they use for a security camera? A toaster? Hard to believe that an art gallery with millions in rare art wouldn't have the most advanced security cameras. Also I notice that the incident happened on May 17th. and yet Toronto Police are only releasing this imagery now?

Click to expand...

Toaster, lol!
Great point about the poor quality of the cctv.
Maybe since the tape was only later discovered, it may have been in an unusual place and not generally relied on? imo.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/police-seek-elderly-woman-in-ago-purse-theft-1.3131919

rbbm.
"The incident happened on May 17, and police recently found security footage of the woman they think is responsible for taking the purse"

This is a weird story all around imo.

If this is footage from the AGO - then imo it's been altered to look like a sketch, or it is a sketch from video footage. As KTO points out, what if valuable art was stolen? What do they show the cops? Their insurance policy? Who would leave art pieces there or insure art pieces with lousy video surveillance?

Have seen an elderly woman (in a fur coat) try to pull this type a stunt once. When confronted, they simply feign 'old' as in 'I don't know what's going on'. Trust this thief has made a career or part time career of this type of theft.

Having said that, an 18 year-old was sitting in the lobby of the AGO with a designer purse full of money? Then turned her back on it to show someone something on her laptop? I get the distracted laptop moment, and that 18 year-olds don't know as much about consequences as one would like to think they do, but the purse full of money? This was Sunday of 2-4 weekend.

Are we sure this happened in the lobby of the AGO? A student on a class trip? With a designer purse full of money? Weird.