To Catch A Thief -- in school!

My Mom’s fine, now… but yesterday morning (Saturday) about this time she was waiting at a bus stop a block from where she lives when a little kid in “a dirty white T-shirt and blue jeans” sat down next to her on the bench. They struck up a conversation, and the boy told her a little about himself, including what school he goes to. At some point my mom got sufficiently relaxed to drop her guard – when she went to remove something from her bag, the boy grabbed it and said, “Thank you very much!” and ran off.

My Mom’s neighbor’s were great. Helped her calm down until I could arrive. Police were on the scene within five minutes. With the help of some neighborhood kids, the officer found the purse and its contents strewn out in an alley a few blocks away, so Mom was able to recover her things. Missing were her cash, her key chain, and some of her heart medicine. There was no sign of the thief. Supposedly, none of the neighborhood kids knew the thief’s last name or where he lived. The officer thought they were lying, but let them go. Mom stayed with me all day yesterday crying on and off while we waited for her landlord to change the locks to the apartment (plus she was locked out anyway, since the kid stole her keys.)

In thinking about this more…

  1. Mom is convinced she would recognize the kid if she ever saw him again.

  2. When he was sitting on the park bench sizing up my Mom, he claims he attends the neighborhood elementary school.

Is my Mom be able – legally – to go to the school and conduct a classroom to classroom search and try to find the kid herself? I think all she’d need to do would be to explain the situation to the principal and secure his/her permission. If she does find him, they can either get in touch with the boy’s parents and/or call the police again.

Personally, I do NOT want this boy getting away with this. He’s caused a lot of hurt and pain and will likely do it again unless he’s stopped.

She could attempt to look through a recent yearbook from said school. All though if he has even a little common sense, he lied about the school he went to. And since he thanked her, I’d imagine this was premeditated. (As opposed to having a genuine conversation with her when oppertunity knocked).

I bet he lives in the area though and she’ll probably see him around again soon enough…and his fingerprints are bound to be on some of her stuff.

Joey P. Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind the theft was premeditated rather than opportunistic snatch-and-grab. She still had the purse in her hand before he snatched it away. Plue one of the neighborhood boys said the kid had done this before. Better than the fingerprints is if we could recover her keys or her medicine. As to a yearbook search, this is an inner city school. I’m a schoolteacher in the district and I doubt they have an adequate school library there, let alone yearbooks.

He gave her his real first name, which the neighborhood boys confirmed. Bright, this kid ain’t.

UPDATE: My mother intends to go tomorrow morning and ask the principal for permission to look for her pursesnatcher.

Tell her to proceed carefully, with the consent and approval of the principal. If she’s seen to be “taking the law into her own hands”, there could be very uncomfortable consequences.

this remins me of something that happened to my friend last week. They discovered someone stole their ATV and 2 dirtbikes. My friend’s stepmom followed the crooks to a house. They waited outside until one crook took off on Jake’s (not my friend’s real name) ATV. Eventually the three guys in their early twenties were caught and are now in prison.

Wow, they stole the ATVs only last week and are already convicted and sent to prison. What country are you in?

Possibly paranormal is confusing jail with prison. If they were arrested and unable to bond out, they’d be in jail awaiting trial.

  • Rick

Might not do much good. Years ago, when my mom’s house was robbed, the police were able to get fingerprints, but due to privacy regulations, they weren’t able to get any significant use out of them. As I understand it, if they found the same prints associated with another crime, they’d be able to connect them, but they weren’t allowed to compare them to anything else.

YMMV, and I’m sure this would vary by city and state.

How did this turn out, Askia?

UPDATE 2: Like many people filled with righteous indignation, Mom felt disinclined to chase down the boy, after she prayed over it and got a good night’s sleep.

She’s been thinking about the boy’s dress and the apparent sincerity of his “Thank you” when he took her purse and the fact he immediately spent the cash, apparently, at a neighborhood candy store… she’s decided he robbed her because he was hungry, not out of malice, and has decided to forgive him.

Her neighbors have been great. Everyone’s been asking how’s she’s doing, looking after her as she walks to the bus stop, and many of them are on the lookout for the boy to make him apologize. But he has not been seen since last Saturday.

Nevertheless, as this is merely the latest in a string of mishaps and unlucky incidents that have plagued my Mom lately, she has decided cut her losses and MOVE from Columbus, Ohio. (Hear that, Earl Snake Hips Tucker? – she’s head back to Carolina!) I’m scrambling to make this happen by the 26th.

Thanks to all for sharing, advising and “listening.”