Family-of-five chases down and corners credit card thief at shopping mall

11 February 2024 , 20:49

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The family, from Ann Arbour, Michigan, US, spent their Sunday afternoon tracking down and chasing a thief (Image: MLive)

A family-of-five chased down and cornered a credit card thief at shopping mall.

The family, from Ann Arbour, Michigan, US, spent their Sunday afternoon tracking down and chasing a thief after he pickpocketed their credit card.

Julie Kobylarz, 34, managed to work out where the thief was and identify him after he made transactions with the stolen card.

Determined to catch him in the act, the mother - with her husband and three children - chased down the offender and cornered him after a chase through a shopping mall.

Ms Kobylarz realised the card was missing when she was buying groceries, she said the purse had been opened while she was shopping. Soon enough, her mobile banking on her phone started alerting her that purchases were being made on the phone which allowed her to crack down the assailant.

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Speaking to Michigan Live she said: “In retrospective, I probably should not have — it probably wouldn’t have been safe,” Kobylarz said. “But in the moment, with the adrenaline. You feel violated. Somebody stole from you, and you want to get it back.”

The family managed to trace the thief's movements due to bank updates on their phone (MLive)

The thief managed to spend $2,000 at an Apple store which the bank sent a fraud alert to her phone. Then an attempted purchase at the shoe store across the hallway was denied.

The couple and their three children — ages 2, 6 and 7 — rushed over to the mall at Briarwood Circle where they knew there was an Apple store but were convinced the thief would have left the area. However, by a stroke of luck, he was still in the shoe store where the card had been denied.

As husband Brian Heckencamp, carrying one child and trailed by the other two, made his way over to the store, his wife was confronting the man inside. “Sure enough, there was a guy at the checkout counter with my green Cash App card in hand,” she said. She managed to grab the bag of iPhones and her card before following the man as he rushed out of the store.

The thief had managed to spend almost $2,000 at an Apple store (MLive)

Ms Kobylarz began yelling for help as the man gained speed, she said. She followed as the man ran through the food court and past a children’s play area. “It was like a movie,” she said. Bystanders attempted to stop the man. One woman tried to trip him, while another dived at him, she said. “People kept missing him.”

The man was eventually cornered by bystanders outside the mall while they waited for police. Police arrested the 26-year-old man, who has since been arraigned on three felony counts of stealing/retaining a financial transaction device without consent.

“We strongly urge community members not to confront potential suspects when it comes to stolen property,” said Chris Page, spokesperson for the Ann Arbor police. “Fortunately, in this case no one was hurt, but the best course of action is to call 911 and wait for officers.”

The family tracked the thief down to a shoe store at a local mall (MLive)

The man was arraigned on Monday, Feb. 6, before 14-A1 District Court Magistrate Elisha Fink. He was given a $5,000 bond and is next set to appear in court on Thursday, Feb. 15.

Kobylarz was able to recover her cards, return the phones — and catch the thief. But the rest of her wallet is still missing, she said. The wallet, colored tan and gray, was home to a sentimental silver coin, a key to a post office box, a gift card to Weber’s Boutique Hotel in Ann Arbor and her driver’s license. She is offering a $100 reward to anyone who can recover it, she said.

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“It was about the biggest scene you could possibly make in a mall,” Heckencamp said. “Sprinting through the mall with our whole family, chasing after a guy — it’s a really amazing situation, really.”

Ffion Lewis