A woman dubbed as a “wedding crasher” has been elusively making the rounds of various weddings and swiping gift from the newlyweds.
The Comal County Sheriff’s Office is seeking to identify the woman involved in various wedding venue theft offenses, according to a statement on Facebook by the Comal County Crime Stoppers on Aug 12.
“This elusive suspect has been dubbed ‘The Wedding Crasher.’ The Wedding Crasher has been frequenting wedding events not only in Comal County but surrounding counties as well. Preying on unsuspecting families and friends,'” said the Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect visits weddings uninvited posing as a guest stealing gifts from unsuspecting newlyweds.
“The Comal County Sheriff’s Office needs the public’s assistance in identifying the Wedding Crasher before she strikes again. Let’s not let her ruin anyone else’s special day and bring this crasher to justice,” said the Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities are offering a reward of $4,000 to anyone with information leading to the “wedding crasher” arrest.
Detective Scott Frakes told KSAT that he first came across the wedding crashers’ misdeed in November last year after she crashed a wedding in Spring Branch.
‘Wedding crasher’ leaving local couples anything but happy – KSAT 12 https://t.co/PdNhxZCFTx pic.twitter.com/HgMIpKY6ar
— Wedding Agent (@Wedding_Agent) August 12, 2019
The elusive woman since then has stuck the same venue five times. Frakes said other thefts by the same person happened in Comal County and Blanco in Kendall County.
“She comes in just after everybody is outside, walks in with a purse. She’s in there no more than about a minute, minute and a half,” Frakes told KSAT.
The woman mostly preys on cash and gift cards as they are handier than big and bulky gifts.
“Cause it’s easy to grab up a stack of cards,” Frakes said. “Most people know you go to weddings, you’re going to have gift cards or cash.”
The Comal County sheriff’s office searching for a woman they say has been crashing weddings and taking gifts. https://t.co/M9haH0qlLA
— Austin Statesman (@statesman) August 12, 2019
The police gathered videos from various retailers that show the same woman using the gift cards stolen from weddings. Investigators believe the losses due to these thefts to be in the thousands.
“The difficult part is not all of the victims retained their receipts. So it’s going to be difficult in actually tracking everything that was stolen,” Frakes said.
Investigators said the episodes are distressing for the victims. “This is someone that is marking somebody’s special day and essentially ruining it,” Frakes said.
Comal County Crime Stoppers can be contacted anonymously through the following channels.
Submit a Tip Online: Log on to the Comal County Crime Stoppers Website: http://www.comalcrimestoppers.org
Comal County Crime Stoppers offers reward for ‘wedding crasher’ bandit https://t.co/fG6mfStqid
— mySA (@mySA) August 12, 2019
Use the Mobile App: Download the “P3 Tips” app for iOS or Android mobile devices and submit a tip through the app
Call in a Tip via Telephone (24 Hours a Day/7 Days a Week): Call 830-620-TIPS (8477) or call 1-800-640-8422
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, billions of dollars are lost annually due to burglary, theft, and robbery.
It says the rate of personal and household burglary, theft and robbery has decreased consistently in the last 20 years. The rate of personal robbery has decreased by 67 percent, the rate of personal theft by 84 percent and burglary and household theft decreased by 60 percent and 65 percent.
