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Victim hopes karma catches up to thief caught on camera stealing wallet at Norfolk nail salon

Posted at 2:43 PM, Nov 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-11 17:08:52-05

NORFOLK, Va. - A trip to a Norfolk nail salon cost one woman far more than she bargained for after a thief stole her wallet right out from under her nose.

While the criminal was watching the victim’s purse, a camera was watching the crime go down.

While Terry Wamsley was waiting for her pedicure to dry, the woman sitting next to her was waiting for the perfect opportunity.

"She looks down, she looks around - all around the nail shop - and then she reaches down, takes my wallet out of my purse," says Wamsley as she describes the security video.

The brazen money grab is all captured on the nail salon's camera. Wamsely says she's been going to the shop on Tidewater Drive for almost 20 years and nothing like this has ever happened.

"She lays it in her lap and then she looks around again, and then she puts it under her right arm through underneath her shirt," says Wamsley.

The thief then walked right out before Wamsley could realize she swiped her wallet.

Related: Local store employees accused of stealing thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise

"When she got up, she bumped my chair and it signaled to me I better check my purse and my wallet was gone, but before we could get out of the nail shop, she had already left."

Wamsley says she called her banks to lock the cards right away, but it was too late.

"She went across the street to a shoe store - that charge was denied because they felt like it was fraud. So, the only thing that she got away with was a tank full of gas."

Wamsley also lost at least $45 that was in the wallet. The incident happened last month, and the thief hasn’t been caught yet. Wamsley has a new wallet, but she says it’s going to take a long time to get all the cards that were stolen from her and get that sense of security back.

She says she feels violated and hopes the thief will learn her lesson by paying it forward to others in need.

"If we ever make it to court, then I would ask the judge not to do anything stringent, but she needs several hours of the dirtiest community service that she can do."