Photography by Danny Fulgencio.
A visitor walked into the office of Redenta’s Garden Shop during a busy Saturday and stole an employee’s wallet.
The woman, who wore a white shirt and brown pants, was caught on security cameras on April 22 entering the office of the garden shop on Skillman Street, FOX 4 reported. The employee received fraud notifications shortly after the wallet was stolen; someone was trying to make about $700 worth of purchases using her credit cards at a nearby Walmart.
That’s when the employee realized her wallet, which contained hundreds of dollars in cash, had been taken.
After watching the footage, she made the connection to another FOX 4 report, noticing that the woman who stole her wallet was wearing the same clothes as a woman who was captured on camera stealing a wallet from a purse at an Oak Lawn dance studio on April 22.
Another business, Apex Dance & Performing Arts on East Mockingbird Lane, was targeted by wallet thieves on April 12, according to FOX 4. Two women entered the dance studio, rifled through a fanny pack and stole a wallet from it. Shortly afterward, the owner, Donna Murray, received alerts that her credit card was being used at a nearby Walmart to make a purchase of more than $500.
Dallas police are investigating whether these thefts are related.
Dawna Schmidt is a new owner of Redenta’s, having taken ownership just over a year ago, but she said the general manager, who has been at the store for the past 15 years, has never seen this happen at the garden shop.
The theft was “surprising and very bold,” Schmidt said.
She is aware of the burglaries at other nearby businesses, such as Buzzbrews or Benny’s Bagels, and said one night, someone climbed over the fence around the garden shop and stole some pottery. Signs of a break-in were left on one of the doors, Schmidt said.
Redenta’s is going to be more diligent about keeping the office door closed during open hours. It’s a company policy that hadn’t been strictly enforced, Schmidt said, especially on a busy day like the one when the theft occurred. The store is also looking to add more security cameras.
Police advise against leaving purses unattended on a counter or shopping cart and say if your wallet is stolen, call 911 and make a police report.
