Brazen thief caught on camera stealing purse at Starbucks in River North

FOX 32 NEWS - A brazen thief in River North was caught on surveillance camera. A man is seen stealing a woman’s purse from her chair at a busy Starbucks. The victim says she wasn’t in there for long, and before she knew it, her valuables were gone. But there was one item inside the purse that the victim says is irreplaceable.

Inside the Starbucks at Grand and Wabash, customers bring with them a plethora of expensive technology like iPhones and laptops, some left unattended. Last Wednesday, Chicago police report a crime occurred here. One sly thief sat at a table like all the customers, but he wasn’t like the rest.

"And it was wild because the guy sat behind me, took his jacket out, draped it over the back of my chair, turned really quickly, took his jacket and my purse at the same time and he was gone,” said Lauren Ramsey.

In this surveillance video, you can see what appears to be the thief taking Laruen Ramsey’s purse off the back of her chair. He then slips out the door that is just steps away.  Gone are items that will be hard to replace – like the equipment Ramsey uses to record podcasts.

“It was like $18-hundred including the purse and the phone, the phone was in there. I know and then you just keep on thinking through, oh, that was in there too, you know,” said Ramsey.

Aside from being out all that money, Ramsey’s missing something invaluable, a gift given to her by her beloved grandmother who passed away two years ago. This is a photo of the little bird Ramsey kept in her purse to keep her grandmother close.

"Just that sense of invasion right, just taking your own belongings and it's just a horrible feeling. It's horrible,” said Ramsey.

Chicago police took Ramsey’s report the day it happened and say they’re looking over the surveillance footage, but so far no one’s in custody.