Police looking for woman allegedly using children to steal purses

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- A woman was caught on surveillance allegedly using children to steal purses. And not just once, but twice.

“It just blows my mind, I was shocked,” said Travis Glidewell, the husband of one of the theft victims.

Glidewell said a child stole his wife’s blue satchel purse inside Jasmine Mongolian Grill in Federal Way.

The surveillance video shows a woman and three children walking into the restaurant and heading to the hostess. While the woman talks to the hostess, two boys start roaming the restaurant.

A short time later, you see one of the boys holding what appears to be a purse. The boy nudges the woman, then bolts out the door. A short time later, the woman leaves the restaurant.

“As soon as it happened I went out and I saw the family, I looked at the family and I said no way, I didn’t even think about it,” Glidewell said.

Glidewell couldn't believe a woman with kids could be responsible for stealing his wife's purse.

“Absolutely disgusting,” he said.

“She used the card five minutes after it was stolen, so she obviously knew what she was doing. It was so well planned out they had to have done this before,” Glidewell said.

Police say Glidewell is right.

The same woman was spotted at a Tukwila restaurant three days before that.

You see a little boy holding a black purse.

Kristen Cunningham said the thief stole the purse right from under her table. Days later, Kristen spotted her purse again on surveillance video from Jasmine Mongolian Grill. Kristen said the black purse on the shoulder of the suspect is hers.

“I knew it was my purse when I saw it,” Cunningham said.

Both Cunningham and Glidewell are not expecting to get the stolen purses back.

They are speaking out because they say what happened is more than just a theft.

“I don’t want this woman to do that to those children again. I don’t blame those children for one second for what happened,” Cunningham said.

“What are you teaching your kids? Do you expect them to be raised properly like that,” Glidewell asked.

Federal Way police say they don’t know the relationship between the woman and the three children. But if it turns out she is the mother and she is arrested, they said they are planning to contact Child Protective Services concerning the children.

Police ask that if you see the suspect, call 911.