The photo above is of a woman using our debit cards at an Albertson's in Del City, OK. She spent more than $5,900 on my card. Grabbed cash from all the others. More than that she shattered our feeling of security and took stuff that we worked hard for. She's not going to get away with it. If anyone in Oklahoma recognizes this woman, please send an email to: ymcasafety@yahoo.com
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The Oklahoma City police are moving slower than molasses in even making available a police report on the thefts at the Y this week.
"We can't even start investigating until we get a report, and then we'll only investigate if it's a solveable crime," That was the comment I got from one detective.
Let me see, video tapes at the Y, video at the ATMs, videos at the stores where they purchased stuff. Sounds solveable to me.
Three things happened yesterday -- first I talked with a bank investigator (let me just say the banks have been awesome.) -- then I talked to the Y where someone told me that they had tapes, but couldn't offer up that info unless we asked. Well, I had asked. But then I was told I couldn't see the tapes. Then the police -- uninterested in helping.
That made me angrier. So, I tracked down some of the other women (hey, I knew those computer assisted investigative reporter classes would pay off sometime) and we talked. If the Y and the Police weren't going to do something, by golly we were. We decided we're not going to dump the Y, we're going to force them to address the problem. We love our new booming, growing downtown area. It's time to force the issue of safety.
So we set up an email address, will set up a Web site today, and printed out fliers. Then we met at the Y, put the fliers on cars, in the dressing rooms, and went back in and interviewed the staff. Needless to say, within five minutes we had a meeting with a head honcho, and will have another meeting with all the women and the COO of the Y tomorrow.
We plan to be as equally aggressive in pushing the police to do their job. We're even helping.
8 comments:
Kick tail, ask questions later.
With cops, I've learned (when some morons shattered car windows in our neighborhood last summer) that the more you b!tch, the more reaction you get.
Just like being a reporter, actually.
Glad you got your driver's license squared away, and that that banks and cc companies are helpful. Here's hoping you catch 'em.
Question: have you gone to the papers yet? You should. The Y should be held to the fire for not doing much.
You go, girl! Way to hold their feet to the fire. I hope it works out.
$5,900 at a grocery store? And the store didn't run any sort of ID check on a tab of that size?!? Sheesh. I sure hope this resolves itself in your favor. Somehow.
I think any business that doesn't check ID (especially for anything over $100) should be called out, sued, whatever. I put SEE I.D. instead of a signature on the back of my credit cards and when anyone DOESN'T look I show them the card. I get a lot of pissy responses, but geez...
CR
Awesome job!I will be praying that you get help from the police, this crime is solved and that beast of a woman gets what she deserves!
Sherrie: Yes, we've learned that the squeaky wheel gets more attention with the police, with the Y. We talked to The Oklahoman -- they would actually have to work for the story, so they are not interested. We're going to one of the t.v. stations next week. Heard another gym got hit in exactly the same way on Wednesday night.
Scott: The $5,900 was spent at the grocery store, a drug store, and a Wal-Mart. They also spent another $500 from at least one other person's card at the same drug store. We're planning to go visit those stores next week and talk with the mangement. We're using the information to track the thieves movements.
CR -- Absolutely, stores need to take responsibility. I'm surprised more banks and credit card companies aren't demanding that since they are the ones hit with the tab.
i just stumbled into your blog for the first time and oddly enough i saw you signs at the Y today at lunch. thank you for posting them. i'm disappointed that the Y wouldn't take that action on their own.
my purse was stolen earlier this year and i found it odd that eveyone knew where my cards were used (luckily for only around $90)and what the person looked like but yet nothing was done.
good luck. i will be on the lookout.
Pondering -- We met with Y officials on Thursday night (Sept. 7) and they PROMISE to make some changes. We'll see.
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