Caught on surveillance, APD investigating after man drops wallet
The Austin Police Department wants to talk to a young man who was caught on surveillance video picking up a wallet that had been dropped. The incident took place in February at the Family Thrift Store in South Austin.
Mikel Morales is the man who dropped his wallet and he said he went back to the store within five minutes. “As I walked away out of the store not even 5 minutes and I realized that I didn't have my wallet in my back pocket but it was too late.” He said everything was gone, “My driver’s license, couple credit cards, I had just cashed my check, so I had about almost $200 and medical insurance card. Now I got to work overtime to make up for it,” he said.
Surveillance video from the family thrift center shows Morales putting his wallet in his back pocket, unfortunately his shirt got in the way. Many customers are seen in the video but he walked away not knowing what happened. “What puzzles me is there was other customers around in that area and nobody said anything. You see the gentleman walk behind me and pick up the wallet, and I was hoping that maybe he'd say ‘Hey mister you dropped your wallet’ but that was not the case.”
The Austin Police Department is investigating the case and said now more than ever, thefts are being caught on camera. “There's cameras everywhere, if you go downtown, every street corner has cameras that are hooked up, some are hooked up to the police department,” said Detective Julian Delgado who is assigned to the case. Det. Delgado is hoping the video will help identify the young man so they can interview him. “We don't know at this time if it was a crime that has been committed, they picked up the wallet and took off with it or they were trying to be a Good Samaritan and hold onto the wallet and try to give it to the person,” he said.
If the young man kept it or not, detectives will try to figure that out, but Morales said one thing is for sure, he did not get his wallet back. “I would have loved for him to pick up the wallet and say ‘Sir you dropped your wallet.’ I might have even turned around pulled out a couple of 20s and give it to him. But that wasn't the case,”
If they do find who ended up taking the wallet and it was stolen that person would face Class B Theft charges.
If you recognize the young man or have any information, you're asked to contact APD.