Wallet Vanishes, $1,021 Charged to Credit Card

Was the woman who started a conversation with a Darien customer at Whole Foods Market one day last month was just shopping for food.

Or maybe she was "shopping" for credit cards.

If it was the latter, she got what she came for.

After the conversation on Dec. 23, the Darien woman shopping at the 150 Ledge Rd. supermarket checked her pocketbook, which was in her shopping cart. She discovered that her wallet was no longer in it.

Darien police gave this account of what happened next:

The victim, who had been shopping with her daughter, who had walked off when, at about 2 p.m., the victim was looking at a product. At that point a woman—described as black, about 5 feet, 2 inches tall, with a stocky build and wearing a winter hat and a long, light green jacket—engaged her in conversation, then left the area.

The wallet held about $60 in cash, but that was the least of it. Two credit cards were also inside.

Later, it transpired that soon after the wallet went missing, two charges were made at WalMart on Connecticut Ave. in Norwalk, totaling $1,021.76.

The purchases: Gift cards and phone cards.