Five women stole an 80-pound safe full of money from an Orange County, California, grocery store, CBS News Los Angeles reported Monday.
Officials said the group pulled off a distraction robbery as the women pretended to be shoppers and distracted two clerks with a variety of questions, the outlet reported. One of the women was then able to sneak into the back of the store and steal the money, according to CBS Los Angeles.
“The woman wearing a long checkered dress is seen on security video casing the storeroom, going in and out of the office where the money from sales was kept in a safe,” Salah Siyam, a store clerk, told the outlet.
Five women covertly steal safe from Orange County grocery store https://t.co/vNU3qywgwq
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) December 24, 2022
The owner of the store, Nasser Abdallah, said the woman who snuck into the back had something hidden under her skirt, which she then used to help lift the safe with one hand. A second woman placed the safe in a shopping cart, and the two women covered it with coats and scarves, according to CBS Los Angeles. Abdallah said the safe stored $9,000. (RELATED: Violent Daylight Robbery Caught On Camera In Greenwich, Connecticut)
“It’s commonplace now which is horrendous,” Robert Shaw, a customer, told the outlet about the reported incident. “This is a small place and $9,000 means a lot to them.”
The theft has led local police to open an investigation, and they are currently searching for the group of women, the outlet reported.