BUFFALO, N.Y. - Gentlemen, consider yourselves warned. The "Hugging Bandit" is on the loose.
Buffalo police are seeing a rash of robberies believed to be the work of the same woman. Investigators say she targets drunk men coming out of bars in the wee hour.
According to police, the woman comes up, tries to talk to the victims, then gives them a hug -- during which she lifts their wallets. Officers know of dozens of victims, and believe there are others too embarrassed to say anything.
Investigators think they know who their culprit is, a 48-year-old woman with a police record going back almost a decade.
Giz a hug…ah fukkin luv yer ah do….
Giz a hug…ah fukkin luv yer ah do….
Last edited by maycm on Fri May 18, 2007 3:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
girldorksrule
- Arrrrrrr...scurvy!
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...and now she's been caught.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - The "Hugging Bandit" - the plus-size pickpocket who put the squeeze on tipsy men and their wallets in upstate New York - is behind bars, police said. Myra Castleberry, 48, was being held without bail and police hoped they had seen the last of a decade-long spree of thefts.
"Hopefully, she'll be hugging her pillow in her prison cell for a long time," Detective Sgt. Tom Donovan said Tuesday.
The Hugging Bandit targeted dozens of unsuspecting men outside bars over the years, distracting them in the wee hours of the morning by fondling them and then secretly stealing their wallets. She would use the victims' credit cards within hours of the thefts.
Castleberry, who has been arrested 17 times between 1998 and 2005 and has two felony convictions, was suspected in the thefts, but police said most victims were too drunk to identify her.
That changed when a Tonawanda man called police after reading a February newspaper account and reported he had lost $238 to the Hugging Bandit in August 2005.
"We set up a photo array, and he picked her out immediately," Donovan told The Buffalo News for its Wednesday edition. "He said, 'I'll never forget a face.'"
Police apprehended Castleberry Sunday night on a felony warrant charging grand larceny. She is scheduled to appear Friday in Buffalo City Court.
You know, I doubt she had to be too careful with stealing their wallets. It's not an impressive pick pocket that can take it from drunks. And in all honesty, I'm with Face, it's a risk you take.
Last edited by Skylace on Fri May 18, 2007 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
