Multiple women team up for elaborate purse theft in Merced County

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A woman in Livingston is hoping police will find the three women caught on camera stealing her bag.

The theft happened while she was working inside her family business.

It was a slick but quick move.

"I never thought this would happen," the victim said. "She just wanted to look at yarn."

A thief entered La Tiendita, a mom and pop store in Livingston, and steals a purse belonging to a worker.

"We usually don't let anybody behind the counter," she explained.

The thief though didn't act alone though, she had two other women with her.

"They distracted my grandmother and, behind her back, stole her purse," she said.

Inside that bag was medicine, money and glasses belonging to a 70-year-old woman.

Authorities say it's likely this wasn't the only store the women, seen in the video, targeted.

About a year ago, surveillance video captured a similar theft in Clovis with three women working together to steal a purse from a worker at a bakery.

The folks over at La Tiendita saw footage of it on a story we have posted online. It showed the three women in the picture and it just immediately clicked that it's not their first time

Livingston Police are not, at this time, saying if the thefts are connected but they are saying they are strikingly similar.

"We are keeping everything open and as a matter of fact, our detective will be working on the case tonight," Sgt. John Ramirez with the Livingston Police Department said.

It's a case that brings up several others that are still unsolved.

"We're really devastated," she said. "And we just want them gone."