Maria Vasquez, 93, doesn’t often go outside but this time she needed a pair of shoes, and so she decided to leave her home for a rare outing. The woman was accompanied by her caretaker, who first took her to the bank, and then dropped at a department store so Maria could make a necessary purchase.
In a couple of seconds, CCTV inside the store caught a long-haired man coming up behind Maria who buried hands into her shirt. Bound to her wheelchair, the woman could do nothing to the attacker who grabbed $600 in social security money out from her bra. By the time Maria realized she had been robbed and screamed for help, the thief had already disappeared out of sight.
However, the New York police department didn’t plan to let him go unpunished…
On those rare occasions when Maria Vasquez gets outdoor, she uses a wheelchair to get around. Her health aide always accompanies her errands, as it happened this time, too. Their first stop was the bank where she cashed her social money check.
Then, they went to a nearby department store to pick up a new pair of shoes for the woman. But suddenly, a man appeared out of nowhere and walked up behind her. He grabbed the $600 in social security money straight from her bra, and disappeared. Fortunately, the attack was caught on the store’s security camera, and after Regine’s released surveillance images of the suspect, police got to the case. Two days later, the thief was found.
He turned out to be a 26-year-old Brooklyn resident who was eventually charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Thankfully, the senior got not only justice, but also a couple of surprising material bonuses. To compensate for her loss, the owner of Regine’s handed Maria $600 in cash and also presented her the shoes she had intended to buy. Felix Roque, the mayor of West New York granted the woman a check for $1,000 in donations. And a final chord of this happy ending story was an online fundraiser, set up by a stranger, which raised $2,000 for Maria.
