Purse THIEF ALERT--

[Elbert Chamblee]

It could happen anywhere but friday afternoon in Port Arthur Walmart a man and woman working together tried to steal my wifes purse. The guy had a shirt on a hanger in his hand and the lady came in from the other direction on the isle. The lady was asking questions about getting the 12 pack of cokes without a coupon and was trying to distract my wife. The man had walked up to the basket and had the purse at the top edge of the basket and my wife turned around when she felt the basket move. The man dropped the purse back into the the wifes basket. He had the shirt i guess to cover the purse with and go take what he wanted and dump the purse. I walked up and the man was gone but the lady acted like she was trying to help and wanted to know if he got anything. As the lady was walking off my wife told me that the lady was trying to distract her and they were working as a team. I ran and caught up with the lady as she was making her way to the front of the store and took a picture with the cell phone and then went to security and told our story to securit and store manager. So folks let you wife and friends know about this almost loss of i pad and cell phone and credit cards. Also the purse was in the back of the basket on the bottom of the basket. If it would have been in the folding tray on top it would have been gone....Walmart next to Academy in Port Arthur.

[saute86]

I saw a segment on a tv talk show showing how pick pockets work. They showed how teams work. That is exactly how they do it. Distract and lift with something to cover what they are doing. Most hold a coat in their arm or over there shoulder. My thoughts were that they were educating more thieves than victims by showing this on TV.

[mr crab]

Terrible....I HATE a dam thief......My buddy's wife did get her purse stolen out of her basket about a month ago at Academy right by where you are talking about. She realized it was gone, then had her cousin who was shopping with her immediately call her cell phone which was in her stolen purse. They heard the custom ring tone a couple aisles over, and confronted the female thief about it. When the conversation took a turn for the worse, the cousin ended up putting the thief on the ground. Police were called, and all ended well. Just a shame that you can't even go in public anymore without always being on high alert

[saute86]

I hear ya hate them too. Its time to remove a hand as punishment like the old days. I bet they would quit stealing after the first time they were caught.

[Chip Landry]

My wife always uses the strap to secure a child in the basket through the strap of her purse... Not the most thief proof but at least they gotta work for it, and it's always zipped, so they just can't grab something out of it.