Cameras captured a thief swiping the designer bag of a Puerto Rican tourist at a Miami restaurant before going on a spending spree with the victim's money.
Marisoll Hernandez was enjoying a nice night out in Brickell on Friday when in a matter of seconds — and seemingly right under her nose — a woman walks by behind her and casually slips Hernandez's black Gucci purse right off the back of her chair.
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"They took my things, you know — they are material things, but they are still yours," Hernandez told NBC6. "You feel frustrated."
Inside the purse was a Gucci wallet with a credit card, $1,200 in cash, and a pair of Cartier glasses valued at almost $4,000.
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And the nightmare didn’t end there.
"The person did went shopping that night and they had fun with my money and my credit cards," Hernandez said.
According to the police report, the suspect made credit card purchases at multiple locations, spending about $1,800 of Hernandez's money.
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"This is something that happens more often than we think," Miami Police spokesperson Mike Vega said. "Women go to places, they put their purses on the chair thinking it’s there, it’s safe, you know, I can feel if someone reaches for it, and it really doesn’t happen that way."
Hernandez, who’s a chef and writer, was in town for business meetings and to promote her book Enamorada, which is currently selling at bookstores in Coral Gables. She decided to tack on a few more days to hang out with friends in Miami when the incident happened.
She was able to track the whereabouts of her purse using an AirTag she had in it, but not even that could reunite her with her belongings.
"It was in an apartment building that it was pinging," Vega said. "In order for us to go into an apartment building and knock door by door, we would have to get a court order. There’s certain procedures that we gotta do in order to do this."
Hernandez hopes someone will come forward with information even if she doesn’t get her things back.
"I know I cannot have my things back — money is money, credit cards are credit cards," she said. "It will be solved, but I really want justice."
Police said if the suspect is found, she will face grand theft charges.
