Following the so-called “dine and dash” at Korean restaurants, in which a customer doesn’t pay and runs away after eating food, there has been a new crime of theft targeting customers’ bags. The suspects were sophisticated as they quickly stole the bags after searching for their targets.
A Korean-American woman surnamed Lee in her 40s visited Kimbap Paradise in LA Koreatown with three friends at around 7:45 p.m. on February 1. She and her friends sat at a table in the corner of the restaurant as usual, eating food and chatting.
A few minutes later, a man and a woman entered the restaurant and asked the staff to sit at a table behind Lee’s group, even though the restaurant was empty.
“A man was sitting behind me, and I didn’t pay attention at first,” Lee said, adding, “My friend told me that the man and woman sitting behind me suddenly got up and left, and asked me to check my bag. The moment I turned back, the cross-body bag I had placed on the backrest of my chair was gone.”
The security camera footage released by Kimbap Paradise shows the suspected thieves in action.
According to the video, the suspects first stood outside the entrance window of Kimbap Paradise and scanned the restaurant for about two minutes. They then entered the restaurant pretending to be customers and sat at a table behind Lee’s group, pretending to look at the menu.
When the female suspect went to the restroom, the male pretended to leave and grabbed his jacket, which was draped over a chair in the back; at that point, he snatched Lee’s bag and hid it in his jacket before leaving.
It took 10 seconds to grab the bag and disappear as the man walked away. Once outside the restaurant, the suspects ran to a black sedan that was already waiting for them and drove away.
“After the customer told us that her bag was stolen, we checked the security camera footage and realized that it was premeditated,” said a representative from Kimbap Paradise, adding, “Sometimes they steal food and run away, but we didn’t imagine that someone would steal a bag from inside a restaurant like this.”
Based on the security camera footage, Lee filed a theft report on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) website.
A member of Lee’s group criticized the police’s complacent response, saying, “Immediately after the incident, Kimbap Paradise went to the Olympic Community Police Station to report it, but they said it was over 8 p.m. and told us to only report it online.”
“I had work-related documents in my bag, a wallet with my driver’s license and credit cards, and a spare set of keys for my car,” said Lee. “They swiped my credit card for 200 dollars at a Target store right after they stole my bag. We’re worried about possible secondary damage.”
“I didn’t expect them to come in and steal my bag during dinner time as if they were going on a date. I think the only way to be careful is to always be alert,” Lee added.
On February 2, Kimbap Paradise printed out video footage of the suspected thieves and posted it at the entrance of the restaurant.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM, JUNHAN PARK [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
