Police Looking for Woman Accused of ‘Distraction Purse Snatching’ at Multiple Lafayette Stores

Lafayette Crime Stoppers and Lafayette Police are asking for help in identifying a female they believe to be involved in an elaborate purse-snatching scam.

According to a Facebook post from Lafayette Crime Stoppers, the woman in the screengrab from the surveillance video worked in tandem with another individual by asking questions in local stores while her male counterpart takes the wallet from the victim's purse in the basket. Immediately after the wallets are snatched, the couple uses the stolen credit and debit cards to buy "thousands of dollars worth of prepaid cards" at stores like Sam's and Walmart.

The pictured female has been involved in multiple cases of distraction purse snatching along the Ambassador Corridor. She distracts a victim by asking questions at a local store while a male subject removes the wallet from the purse in the basket. The couple then leaves immediately and maxes out the victim's credit and debit cards at local Walmart’s and Sam’s locations by buying thousands of dollars worth of prepaid cards.

Police say the vast majority of the scamming takes place at stores in the Ambassador Caffery/Kaliste Saloom area of Lafayette—a district that is heavily occupied by local and national retail establishments.

Crime Stoppers describes the female subject as a "young Hispanic female in her mid 20’s, medium build who maybe seen driving a silver Kia Optima with "a temporary tag partially hanging off."

If you know the identity of this female, please call Lafayette Crime Stoppers at (337) 232-TIPS (8477) or by downloading the P3 TIPS Mobile App or by dialing **TIPS (**8477) on your mobile device.

All callers remain anonymous.