The manager of the Gallery Market in Ivory Tower said Saturday that the man who allegedly stole took $88 in cash may have been the same man who stole from the market previously.
Though manager Inseon Choi said the store’s cameras did not properly record when the $88 was stolen, she told The Hatchet that she thinks the man described by police as the thief is the same man who allegedly stole $28 from the store last December.
The most recent theft occurred around 10:25 a.m. on April 3 when Choi was not present, according to Choi and a Crime Alert sent to the University community.
“[The suspect] came in and under the counter there is a coin bag… he took the bag,” Choi said in a phone interview.
The cashier on duty was working away from the service counter when the incident occurred, but called Metropolitan Police when she saw what happened, Choi said.
Choi said her cameras were able to capture the suspect’s image in December when $28 cash was stolen from a coin bag. She said the incident was not reported to the police then because it was a small amount of money, but Choi said she will now take the image captured in December to the police.
University Police also took a report of the incident, and the Crime Alert e-mail sent to the University community Saturday said the suspect fled north on 23rd Street after the theft.
According to the Crime Alert, the suspect is “a black male, 25-years-old, approximately 6’0 tall, slim build, wearing black pants, black jacket and a black hat,” and had been “observed in the area acting suspiciously earlier in the week.”
“Other cashiers say several times [the suspect] came back,” Choi said of the store’s interaction with the man she believes stole the money. She said cashiers told her the man would “hang around,” sitting sometimes at tables near the market and watching cashiers at night.
To prevent another theft, Choi said the cash moving in and out of the registers will be secured with a lock.
Though she said this improvement is “much better” for the store’s security, she also said the cash registers are still out in the open. Choi was concerned that the suspect could know how to open the cash registers.
University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard said Saturday that no additional officers have been placed in Ivory Tower.
