Little Elm police need your help in identifying the man caught on camera stealing from a local charity.
Volunteers from the Little Elm Food Bank, collecting canned goods and cash donations, set up a table in the foyer of the Kroger grocery store at the intersection of FM 423 and Eldorado Parkway on Jan. 27.
Surveillance video shows a young man, in a dark Hollister-branded sweater, walk inside the store, past the display.
The man appears again in the entry of the store, looking out the front doors, for several seconds. Investigators say the man was looking for his accomplice who was driving a getaway car, described as a late-model Ford Mustang with torn tags.
He appears again in the video walking back inside the grocery store, then seen exiting through a different set of doors into the same foyer as the volunteers. He snatched the volunteers’ donation jar full of cash and dashed out of the store into the parking lot.
A food bank volunteer, a mother and her two daughters followed, but the car got away.
“Anyone that will steal from a charity that’s doing nothing but good in the community is really pretty low on the food chain as far as I’m concerned,” said Capt. Rodney Harrison with the Little Elm Police Department.
Employees at a local Starbucks say the same crime was committed there just a few days earlier.
As the Starbucks employees waited on customers, the suspect entered the coffee shop, took two tip jars near the cash registers and ran into the parking lot.
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As in the Kroger theft, the man jumped into a black Ford Mustang that was outside.
Police say the man's description was slightly different, but the getaway car was the same.
Starbucks employees say the same car was spotted in the parking lot Wednesday morning, but as a manager approached, the vehicle sped off.
Police hope the surveillance tape will help in identifying all those involved.
Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to contact the Little Elm Police department.
