LYNNWOOD, Wash. — Lynnwood police are searching for a thief who stole more than a $1,000 in cash from a teen and his family at a local non-profit earlier this week.
The theft was caught on camera, and the incident occurred in less than a minute at at 4001 198th Street SW in Lynnwood, which has two thrift stores for clothing and furniture.
The family said their teenage son worked for months to save up and help the family buy furniture for their new apartment. They set the pouch full of cash down for a second to move some furniture to their vehicle, but it was gone in just a matter of seconds.
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Bella’s Voice has been in the community here for over a decade, running the thrift stores to help fund their non-profit, which helps support animal sanctuaries and rescues, as well as provides services like help with vet bills and emergency surgeries and a pet food bank for community members in need.
Employees at Bella’s Voice said the family came into their furniture thrift store Monday afternoon to buy a sectional couch and paid cash, setting their pouch of money down briefly to move the furniture into their vehicle. At that moment, a woman is seen on camera coming into the store, going directly for the pouch and grabbing it quickly, leaving the store before anyone notices.
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She opened it, she looked and saw all the cash, and I saw her on camera looking around to make sure nobody was watching her, and she ended up taking it,” Laura Muirhead with Bella’s Voice said. “It’s frustrating because times are hard right now, and it’s one thing to steal from our store, but when you actually steal from our customers, I take it a little more personally.
This is not the first time the non-profit has dealt with thefts. Earlier this year, in February, . Just this month, their truck was stolen not once but twice when the recovered truck was stolen again from the shop where it was getting a broken window repaired.
It’s expensive. Everything out there is expensive right now. We struggle to make things easier for the community, and it just causes a lot more problems with our day-to-day when we have to pause and get things repaired,” Muirhead said. “Ultimately, the animals suffer when things aren’t running smoothly. We’re not operational with our trucks. It takes a while to get everything sorted again, and we’re not able to help the community as much.
Anyone with information on this latest theft is urged to contact Officer Burke with Lynnwood police at 425-670-5535.