Thief

A man who stole a laptop was caught on camera by a secret spy app the owner installed--then activated when his computer was stolen.  It tracked the computer's locations and photographed the thief sleeping on a couch, sitting in bed using the computer...not  knowing the computer he was using was using him.  

It's bad enough to have someone break in to your home and steal your stuff. But what if the thief tried to contact you? Police in Greeley, Colorado are investigating a case like that.  They say they arrested a man after he used the victim's cell phone to text one of her friends, then sent the victim a friend request on Facebook. KMGH in Denver reported on this story.  Read it here .

Wichita police are on the lookout for a thief targeting customers at tanning salons. The thief takes purses and wallets from occupied tanning rooms, police said It's happened at least four times since June 19, 2011.  In another case, the same man is believed to have snatched a purse from a tanning salon parking lot. In most cases, the thief poses as a potential customer and waits for an opportunity to pick the locked door.  "Who would have ever thought anyone would do something like that?

A 72-year-old disabled man watches as someone steals a wheelchair ramp from outside his home. It happened Tuesday in the 2000 block of south Vine in Wichita. Wichita police say the man was sitting in his home, when he watched a man come up and take his metal wheelchair ramp. The man called police, who notified area scrap yards. Within an hour police say the ramp was located at one yard. Later in the day, police say the suspect and another person returned to the same scrap yard with more metal to sell.

A recent crime victim is taking his frustrations to the street, and offering up cash to anyone who can track down the suspect that took his hefty air conditioning unit. Thieves are targeting AC units for the have copper inside. If you drove along West River boulevard recently, it was hard to miss the big signs in black and wood. Rob Snyder is offering up 500 bucks for information that leads to the arrest of the person who ripped out the air conditioning unit from his Riverside home Monday night.

A Dillards employee suffers minor injuries after being attacked with a screwdriver. It happened Saturday afternoon at the Dillards in Towne East. Police say employees saw someone trying to pry open a cash register with a screwdriver. When employees confronted him, he ran toward an employee with the screwdriver, tearing his clothing and cutting him on the back. The man was chased outside by an off-duty Butler County Sheriff's Deputy, who pulled out his weapon, but did not fire. The suspect drove off, but the deputy took down the tag information.

He said he wanted to sell a piece of jewelry, but instead, Wichita police say, the man that entered Gold & Diamond Traders Saturday afternoon was a thief. Police say the man took a bag of gold pieces from the counter at the businesses in the 4800 blk of E. Harry and took off running, out the door and into a waiting car. The victim told police the value of the stolen gold is estimated at $20,000.

Update: The Wichita Police Department says that Destiny Allen, the suspected church purse thief, is now in jail. On Wednesday, a Sheriff's deputy was driving and noticed a vehicle similar to one that was stolen from a parking lot at 2400 block of S. Greenwood. The car was parked in front of a home. The deputy confirmed that the vehicle was stolen and executed a search warrant at the location. Police found stolen property and arrested 32 year-old Destiny Allen on previous warrants.

Wichita police are hoping you can identify the man caught on surveillance video.  They say he's connected to several thefts from YMCA men's locker rooms. Police say the man usually signs in on a day pass and spends less than 30 minutes at the YMCA.  They say he goes after wallets left in the men's locker rooms. If you have any information about the man pictured, call police at 316-268-4168 or email FHoskins@wichita.gov.

Wichita police say an alert citizen helped keep a thief from getting away Sunday night.  Police say it started when a 22-year-old man suspected of stealing was confronted by two loss prevention officers at the Walmart on west Kellogg.  The suspect did not stop when he was confronted, but turned around when he got to the store's door.  That's when police say he held what's described as a box knife towards the two employees.  Police say...

"That was stupid on my part," said Eric Combs.  "I left the garage door open. " It's that time of year when police say burglars target houses with open garage doors.  A young Wichita couple found that out the hard way Monday morning.  Both they hope their loss will serve as a warning.     "The garage door was open.  They came through that door right there," said Combs, pointing to the door which leads from his garage to...

Early Tuesday morning around 2:30, Sonia Duarte thought she was in labor and her husband started the family van, planning to head to the hospital. But a car thief took advantage of the situation and stole it, leaving the pregnant woman stranded. Sonia says, "I just prayed to God that everything would go okay. They say that when something bad happens it's because something good is going to come. " Sgt. Wayne Ruffner says, "The broadcast came out and luckily three of our deputies were in the area.

Prosecutors charged the man shot by a Sumner County homeowner earlier this week.  Jason Confer is charged with aggravated burglary, attempt to commit robbery and attempt to commit theft. Earlier this week, a Mulvane homeowner shot Confer.  Investigators say the homeowner woke up to sounds coming from his garage. When he went to his garage he found an intruder inside. The homeowner held the intruder at gunpoint while his wife called 911. That's when the thief attacked the homeowner.

Wichita police say a man was working on his car when someone put a sharp object against his back. This happened on the 400 block of north Ash Friday. That's near Central and Grove. The man says the robber demanded all the cash he had on him. He says the thief is in his early 50's and was missing his index finger. No one was hurt, but the robber did make off with some cash.

Two women were walking out of Hot Spot Detox on the 1500 block of East Central when a man tried to snatch one of their purse. The women struggled with the purse snatcher and an employee came out of the store and got involved. The employee was punched in the head twice. The thief ran off with a wallet from the purse. Officers got a description of the thief, and arrested the man a bit later.

From a distance, a silver Corvette looks like one of best cars on the K-15 Auto Lot in Derby. "Well, it's got about a thousand scratches on it where it went through the fence,” Tom Scripp said. Scripp just got it back a month after a thief took it. "To re-paint a Corvette, maybe six or seven thousand dollars,” Scripp said. Wichita officers say they tracked the suspected thief and the Corvette to this southwest Wichita neighborhood.  Around noon Monday, they tried to pull the guy over.

Wichita police say an alert citizen helped keep a thief from getting away Sunday night.  Police say it started when a 22-year-old man suspected of stealing was confronted by two loss prevention officers at the Walmart on west Kellogg.  The suspect did not stop when he was confronted, but turned around when he got to the store's door.  That's when police say he held what's described as a box knife towards the two employees.  Police say...

A recent crime victim is taking his frustrations to the street, and offering up cash to anyone who can track down the suspect that took his hefty air conditioning unit. Thieves are targeting AC units for the have copper inside. If you drove along West River boulevard recently, it was hard to miss the big signs in black and wood. Rob Snyder is offering up 500 bucks for information that leads to the arrest of the person who ripped out the air conditioning unit from his Riverside home Monday night.

A Dillards employee suffers minor injuries after being attacked with a screwdriver. It happened Saturday afternoon at the Dillards in Towne East. Police say employees saw someone trying to pry open a cash register with a screwdriver. When employees confronted him, he ran toward an employee with the screwdriver, tearing his clothing and cutting him on the back. The man was chased outside by an off-duty Butler County Sheriff's Deputy, who pulled out his weapon, but did not fire. The suspect drove off, but the deputy took down the tag information.

Wichita police are hoping you can identify the man caught on surveillance video.  They say he's connected to several thefts from YMCA men's locker rooms. Police say the man usually signs in on a day pass and spends less than 30 minutes at the YMCA.  They say he goes after wallets left in the men's locker rooms. If you have any information about the man pictured, call police at 316-268-4168 or email FHoskins@wichita.gov.