Wine Advice Leads To Wallet Theft
Tuesday, March 28th, 2023
The Dalton Police Department is asking for the public's help to identify a suspect who used the ruse of asking for advice on a good bottle of wine to distract a woman before stealing her wallet and using her bank card to rack up more than $3,000 in fraudulent purchases. The crimes were recorded by store surveillance cameras.
The incident began at the Kroger on West Walnut Avenue on March 10th. The victim told police that she was approached by a woman who asked for recommendations for a good bottle of wine. When the victim bent over to reach for a bottle on the bottom shelf, the suspect took her wallet out of her purse. The victim did not realize that her wallet was missing until later when she tried to check out. The victim told police that she drove home and contacted her bank and that's when she discovered her credit and debit cards had been charged for more than $3,000. The bank cards had been used at the Shugart Road Walmart and also a Walgreen's.
A Dalton detective was able to retrieve surveillance video of both the wallet theft and also the fraudulent purchases with the stolen bank cards. The suspect made purchases at a self-checkout at Walmart, buying gift cards in five different transactions in the amount of $504.94 each. At Walgreen's, the suspect made two separate transactions which were also for gift cards. The suspect purchased one Vanilla Visa gift card for $500 along with a gift bag and then purchased a second for $250 with another gift bag. At each location, the suspect left the scene in a dark-colored Ford Fusion that appeared to have the license plate removed.
The suspect was a Black female who wore navy blue scrubs, a blue tie-dye undershirt, blue and white Nike shoes, a large necklace, and an orange face mask. She wore a blue baseball hat with the state of Tennessee flag's circular three-star logo in Tennessee Volunteer orange. The suspect appeared to have a tattoo on her right hand between the base of her thumb and index finger and also a tattoo on both the left and right sides of her neck.
If you know who this suspect is or if you have any other information about this crime, please contact Detective Charles Williams at 706-278-9085, extension 9-280.
Below: the suspect was recorded by store surveillance
