Fort Worth woman says she was targeted by Allen daycare thief
FORT WORTH, Texas - A Fort Worth woman believes she may be yet another victim of a thief snatching purses from unattended cars parked at daycares.
One thief was caught on surveillance video at a daycare in Allen and nearly got away with a handbag before getting caught in the act.
Anna Mitchell from Fort Worth says the m.o. is very similar. Except in her case, she's still dealing with the mess of losing items so personally valuable.
Mitchell distinctly remembers the sting of being victimized Halloween morning. She'd just dropped off her granddaughter at the Kindercare on South Hulen Street and parked within feet of the front door.
“Normally, it's a very quick transaction. But that morning, they were like, ‘Hey, can you put that costume on?’ I was like ok sure,” she recalled. “So I put the costume on and I was like let me go grab the cell phone so I can take some pictures of my grandbaby.”
When Mitchell returned to her car, her cell phone, purse and wallet were all gone. Her credit card company told her within minutes the thief was racking up charges at a Racetrac in Benbrook.
“I was told she bought $136 in cigarettes,” she said. “So no food. Not desperate for help. Cigarettes.”
Mitchell says the responding officer showed her a picture of the suspect from the store's surveillance video. And when she watched surveillance video from the daycare car thefts in Allen on FOX 4, she recognized the thief.
READ MORE: Allen thief targets parents during daycare drop-off rush
Mitchell thinks she locked her car the morning her purse was stolen but blames herself if she forgot in the midst of the toddler drop-off shuffle. Still, she says no one deserves to victimized and is determined to see the thief is caught.
“How can you can you do that to us — single women?” Mitchell said. “We going to work. We looking for work. We taking the children to the daycare, and you going to do something like that? Really?”
Fort Worth police say they cannot confirm at the moment if their thief is the same person involved in the Allen thefts. Allen police say they are very interested in comparing notes with the Fort Worth detective.