A trio of thieves working together to steal purses, cell phones, and cash from patrons at O’Brien’s Pub and Restaurant on Main Street were arrested on Saturday, June 29.
At 12:53 am officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were on foot patrol on Main Street when a security guard working at O’Brien’s at 2941 Main Street flagged them down.
This security guard told them they had learned that two women had been working together as a team stealing purses inside the bar.
The security guard then informed the officers that they had noticed that one of these women took a purse and walked outside.
They observed this woman place this purse into the trunk of a parked BMW.
The guard told the officers that at that time the second female had not been spotted, but a man was seen to be sitting with the first woman as she returned to the bar and subsequently take a patron’s cellphone.
The security guard had then detained this woman and she had told the guard that she would return all of the property.
The officers, in the course of their investigation, discovered a third suspect, namely the owner of the BMW, as he was seen to be assisting in hiding the stolen property.
The officers arrested the three suspects, and also recovered five cellphones, two purses belonging to patrons of O’Brien’s, and $800 in cash.
A number of victims came forward and informed the officers they believed they had cash stolen that night from purses that they had left unattended at tables in the bar.
Three people were arrested and charged with grand theft, receiving stolen property, and conspiracy, they were: A 20-year-old female of Los Angeles (bail $20,000), a 22-year-old male of Los Angeles (no bail), and 22-year-old female of Los Angeles (bail $20,000).
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
