Police: Suspects used a tool and special trick to steal credit cards undetected
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – You might want to check your wallet to make sure all your credit cards are still there.
Some park visitors recently learned they were targeted by alleged international criminals. Detectives said they found suspects using a special tool to unlock cars so they could steal credit cards and leave the wallets behind.
“This recently happened to us,” Greg Simos said. He told us his family did not figure it out immediately after his wife was hit.
“She went to get gas and found out she had no money to get gas. So, you know, we looked everywhere, and it is nowhere to be found.”
Sunset Hills Police Detective Daniel O’Brien and St. Louis County Detective Tom Cantino recently worked together to bring down a suspected international ring.
“There are victims throughout the country,” Detective O’Brien said.
Detective Cantino added: “This is not small potatoes. It is an organized theft ring.”
The officers said the suspects would steal credit cards but leave behind the wallet, leaving no trace on the outside of cars, either.
“They’ll take a T-handled Allen wrench, and they’ll shave it down to the approximate shape of a key and they’ll stick that into a lock and manipulate the lock and get the door unlocked,” Cantino said.
This case involves reported Chilean nationals with no known permanent addresses, according to court records: Sebastian Rubio, Angelo Jana-Naculeo and Matias Montes-Vega.
Montes-Vega reportedly used a forged Venezuelan driver’s license to rent a car. That rental may have broken the case with the help of yet another department.
“Des Peres P.D. was huge. Instrumental in getting video surveillance from West County Mall, which led us to suspect vehicle in one of the cases,” O’Brien said.
Police think the suspects were only here for a few days in their nationwide plot.
Criminals know that people who visit the park often don’t want to take their wallet on a walk with them, but they also know that people often hide their wallets in a glove box or under a floor mat. If you don’t want to be a victim, you should take your wallet with you.
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