A tourist's evening turned sour when a thief was caught on camera swiping her luxury accessories at a Miami restaurant, later ringing up a nearly $2,000 bill with the stolen funds. Marisoll Hernandez, a 60-year-old tourist from Puerto Rico, found her Gucci bag containing a Gucci wallet, $1,200 in cash and a pair of Cartier glasses—which she claims to be valued at nearly $4,000—lifted from her chair as she dined at Toscana Divino, as the Daily Mail reported.
The bold theft, recorded by the establishment's CCTV, showed a woman in a fuchsia dress, glued to her phone as she made off with Hernandez's belongings while the victim was engrossed in conversation and eating out, unaware that the crime was going on, the CCTV caught the instance when Hernandez, still grinning did not even register that she had been robbed, earlier that day, Hernandez had flaunted the now-stolen purse in a photo on her Instagram. "They took my things, you know—they are material things, but they are still yours," Hernandez told NBC6. "You feel frustrated."
After the incident, Hernandez, a chef and writer who was in Miami for business and book promotions, used an AirTag in her purse to track it to an apartment building, nonetheless, police were unable to recover the items due to the need for a court order prior to searching the premises, this was confirmed by Miami Police Department spokesperson Mike Vega. According to the NBC6 report, Vega stated that "it was in an apartment building that it was pinging," and, "In order for us to go into an apartment building and knock door by door, we would have to get a court order."
Purse snatchings in the area have been on a troubling uptick, with thieves targeting unsuspecting diners, a similar event took place earlier this month when two men stole an $8,000 purse from an elderly woman, South Miami Police have also released footage of purse thefts in hopes of public assistance in nabbing the persistent perpetrators. "I believe they have done this before," Sgt. Fernando Bosch explained to CBS News, further elucidating on the organized nature of these criminals. Hernandez, coming to terms with her loss, desires justice more than recovering her valuables: "money is money, credit cards are credit cards," she expressed to the Daily Mail, "It will be solved, but I really want justice."
