Man Dresses in Drag to Feign Mental Disability While Stealing Mopeds

Man Dresses in Drag to Feign Mental Disability While Stealing Mopeds
(L) A woman modeling a pink dress. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret) | (R) Mopeds in China. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)
Daniel Holl
8/26/2019
Updated:
9/4/2019

A man of short stature, donned in a bright pink dress with bright green pants, was arrested by police for stealing mopeds from a parking lot, according to Chinese online news outlet The Beijing News.

The unnamed suspect, 47, was later detained by police. Officers reviewed security footage of the man pushing a moped away from the parking lot on Aug. 18 in Ningbo City of China’s Zhejiang Province.

The suspect was just under five feet tall, police said in the Aug 23 report from The Beijing News. He wore brightly colored, and out-of-place clothing  as a ruse to make people think he was mentally disabled.

Might Call the Fashion Police Too

Before taking the moped, the man decided to give himself a disguise.

The man stole the clothing from a house where they were out hanging to dry, according to the police. “The clothes really suited him,” the officer told The Beijing News.

Police said the man’s plan was to give others the impression that he was mentally disabled. This way, people wouldn’t pay any mind to him. However, police further stated the he had no mental issues whatsoever.

Footage shoes the man casually pushing a moped out of the parking lot. Mopeds in China generally have alarms built into them, but people continue to walk near the man, ignoring him.

His ruse worked.

However, once the moped was reported missing, the security footage was the thief’s undoing. The man was detained for theft on an unreported date.

After the arrest, the police took a photo of the man, still wearing the pink dress, pointing at the moped he stole. The man was also wearing a red shirt, which was not part of his original outfit. The report did not mention why the police gave it to him. It is a common practice in China for police to take photos of arrested individuals pointing at evidence.

Daniel Holl is a Sacramento, California-based reporter, specializing in China-related topics. He moved to China alone and stayed there for almost seven years, learning the language and culture. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
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