PLAINWELL (WKZO) -- Allegan County deputies are looking for a sneak thief who took a wallet from a 72-year-old Kalamazoo woman’s purse as it sat in the child seat of a shopping cart at the Plainwell Meijer a week ago Monday.
The woman was buying groceries and gifts for a grandchild and didn’t notice the wallet had been snatched until she got to the check-out and all her money and cards were gone.
A lady in line behind her offered to pay for her merchandise, but she declined.
Within minutes, the thief was using the card to fill his gas tank at the Meijer gas station in the parking lot. Then he traveled to the Speedway where he made additional purchases. Then he hit a third gas station, a shell station where he struck out.
Deputies were able to obtain a surveillance photo of a black male using the card at the Speedway station.
Allegan detectives advise female shoppers to use a purse that can be kept close to their bodies, like the ones that strap across the opposite shoulder and can be positioned in the front of their bodies where it can always been seen.
With the holidays just ahead, authorities expect an uptick in thefts of this sort because of the high volume of shoppers and the opportunity for thieves to operate.
