By Kathleen Brady Shea
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — Hungry thieves in West Whiteland Township were no match for detectives with an appetite for crime prevention, police said yesterday.
Three township detectives were having lunch in the Peace-a-Pizza shop in the Main Street shopping center about 12:10 p.m. Tuesday when they noticed a woman peering into customers’ purses, Sgt. Martin Malloy said.
Fearing that she might be seeking a different type of dough, the detectives - Sandy Smith, Kristin Lund, and Scott Pezick - followed her as she met up with two other women and drove to the other side of the shopping center, Malloy said.
Two of the women left the car and went into the Babies R Us store, while the third stayed in the car. The detectives split up and continued their surveillance, Malloy said.
Eventually, the women were questioned, and police said they learned the three were concealing $180 worth of merchandise with no receipts. Lakisha Mitchell, 22, of Newark, Del., and Violet Washington, 18, and Deneisha Wright, 20, both of Wilmington, were arrested for theft, receiving stolen property, and criminal conspiracy, Malloy said.
They are not the first alleged victims of the dining detectives, Malloy said.
In May 2007, Lund and Pezick were seated at the Cosi restaurant in the same shopping center when they noticed a woman using fancy footwork to move a nearby diner’s purse that had been placed on the floor. They watched as the woman removed credit cards and cash before returning the handbag to its original location.
Her subsequent arrest might have given the detectives an insatiable craving for culinary crime-solving.
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