Cowardly Black Pickpocket Targets Elderly White Disabled Woman

KTVU
June 1, 2015

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Karen Sellers is disabled, so the Black thief saw her as easy prey, knowing she would not be able to chase him.

San Francisco police are looking for a pickpocket who targets elderly and disabled women on Muni.

Police say the suspect was caught on camera on Saturday, stealing the wallet of 69-year-old Karen Sellers.

Sellers, who uses a scooter, was on the 5 Fulton line, and says she was suspicious of the thief almost immediately.

She said he was holding a jacket over his arm, and repeatedly bumped her with that jacket on the ride.

When the bus stopped near McAllister Street and Van Ness Avenue, he made his move. “Stage a fall directly on top of me, pinning me to the chair doing what he had to,” said Sellers. “I yelled right away, he got out the back door and I looked down and my purse was wide open and I said ‘thief.'”

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The clumsy Black thief has been targeting elderly and vulnerable women on the bus lanes.

The suspect got away with Seller’s wallet with several credit cards. Police said the cards were used within minutes, and say the theft was the work of a serial pickpocket.

Officer Carlos Manfredi from the San Francisco police department calls the thief a coward, for targeting the most vulnerable passengers.

“When the bus stops this coward makes an effort to deliberately fall into her, uses his jacket to cover her purse, unzip her purse then reaches and pulls out her wallet,” said Manfredi.

Manfredi said the suspect appears to use Muni to travel the city, targeting elderly and disabled women on specific bus lines. “This suspect has been doing this on the Muni 5 line, and on the Muni 38 line, and he likes to visit the downtown corridor of San Francisco,” said Manfredi.