A purse was stolen from the seat of a 24-year-old woman’s car on Wednesday, Sept. 2, after she stopped to buy some gum at a gas station.
The incident occurred sometime before 10:30 p.m. at the Tri S Mobil gas station at 211 Post Road, near Exit 13, according to Darien police, who gave this account of the matter:
The woman, a Cumberland, R.I. resident, was driving on Interstate 95, as was her father in a separate vehicle. They both got off the highway and stopped at the gas station. The woman went into the convenience store at the station to buy the gum and other items, then returned to her car.
You can see this statement on the back of Darien Police patrol cars: “LOCK YOUR VEHICLE. EVERY TIME. EVERYWHERE.”
She noticed that $5 that she’d left inside the car was gone, as was her purse, left in a space between one of the front seats and the center console in her 2016 Toyota Prius. Her father, who had parked his vehicle nearby, had also gone into the convenience store.
Neither the woman nor her father nor two other customers at the station saw anyone around the father’s or daughter’s vehicle, and surveillance cameras at the station weren’t pointed in the area where the two parked.
Police looked around the area but didn’t see any suspects.
Her black, leather, Coach brand purse, valued at $400, contained some expensive cosmetics, $20 in cash and her car keys. She and her father stayed overnight at an area hotel while new keys were made at a car dealership.