The Cortez Police Department is looking for a woman who is suspected of stealing money from a wallet that was dropped in the parking lot of Safeway.
Officers have not yet identified the suspect, and released photos from video surveillance, asking the public to help identify her on Crimewatch.net.
According to an incident report written by officer Jason Giacchino, Margaret Spence dropped her wallet out of her car in the Safeway parking lot the morning of July 3. When she went to pay for her items, she noticed it was gone and went out to the parking lot to check her car.
She told the officer that a woman approached her, telling her that she found a wallet and turned it into store employees. Spence was “overjoyed and ran into the store,” the report said. However, the money inside the wallet was gone.
According to the Crimewatch alert, created July 5, it was a large sum of money from a Social Security check that Spence had cashed.
Giacchino spoke with the store manager, Christopher Duran, and got video footage of the incident. The footage showed her turning the wallet in, and checking out. Duran told the officer that “she put in a rain check order” and would likely return.
When the suspect turned the wallet in, she did so “with little to no explanation” and proceeded to run out of the store. Police ask that anyone who can identify the woman call dispatch at (970) 565-8441, or submit a tip online at Crimewatch.net.
