New Orleans Police are actively seeking help from the public to locate two women connected to a recent theft case. The suspects, Keya Marie Alexis and Melanie Mayes Stewart, are wanted for theft by fraud, as reported NOPD News.
Investigators say the incident took place sometime between the evening of February 9, and the early hours of the following morning. The victim, whose identity has not been disclosed, found himself bereft of personal belongings in the bustling precincts of the French Quarter. It was around 1:00 a.m., the victim discovered that his wallet and cellular phone were no longer safely ensconced in his pockets. Attempts to reconcile with his loss led to a more disquieting revelation - over $1000 had been illicitly siphoned from his accounts.
Following the trail left by these fraudulent transactions, detectives quickly zeroed in on Alexis and Stewart as the orchestrators of this deceit. Both women are now subjects of a police bulletin, eagerly sought by the authorities to answer for their alleged indiscretions. Pictures of the suspects have been disseminated, the visages of Alexis and Stewart hovering in the digital limbo of social media shares and online bulletins, as the community is being asked to aid in their capture.
Descriptions paint Alexis, a Black female born on August 1, 1975, and Stewart, a Black female born on July 15, 1971, as the alleged architects behind the unauthorized withdrawals. But so too do they remind us to take headlong caution: just as one can quickly find themselves in the clutches of urban anonymity, so can we so easily become ensnared by the deceitful guile of those we have yet to even truly see. NOPD officials have encouraged anyone with information to come forward, to directly partake in restoring what has been unjustly taken.
The city of New Orleans hence stands on alert, vigilance urged by circulating flyers and online posts. NOPD continues to request that anyone with knowledge of the whereabouts of Keya Marie Alexis or Melanie Mayes Stewart reach out by calling their local precinct or reporting anonymously through Crimestoppers.
