A bold burglar struck as a group of women were in a meeting. He managed to steal their stuff while they were just a few feet away.
It happened Tuesday, in the Railway Exchange Building at Wisconsin and Broadway in downtown Milwaukee. The thief was caught on surveillance video walking in the building, then out just ten minutes later.
In that short time, Jenny Weeden and a coworker at Accelity Marketing had their wallets stolen from their purses, which were hidden in their offices. They had stepped out to attend a team meeting in a conference room that’s literally just a few steps away.
“He knows what he’s doing,” says Jenny Weeden, who got her wallet stolen. “He’s a pro. We don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
Surveillance video shows the suspect leaving the office building at 1:01 p.m. By 8:01 that night, he had tried to charge $3,400 on their credit cards at various ATM’s, Walmart, T-Mobile, Home Depot, Citgo and Speedway.
The clerk at the Speedway at Hampton and Appleton - the suspect’s final stop - proved very helpful when the women called, after getting notified by their credit card company.
“The clerk had surveillance video and shared it with us, and provided a description of the guy who tried to use our credit cards there,” Weeden says. “He was trying to buy $526 worth of gift cards.”
Sure enough, that Speedway surveillance video shows the same guy - in the same outfit - who was caught on video going in and out of their office building when their wallets were stolen.
When the women shared the surveillance photos on social media, they started getting dozens of comments from people who've seen the man snooping around the Railroad Exchange Building before, as well as other office buildings around town.
“We want this guy caught,” Weeden says. “We’d like to bring him to justice and let him know this isn't okay.”
Police are looking for the suspect, and are investigating whether he could be tied to other office thefts.
