Twice in the past week, someone posing as a valet drove off with a car in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Police say that the first incident happened Wednesday around 3:30 p.m. at a garage at 19th Street and JFK Boulevard in Center City where an 82-year-old woman's car was stolen. The second incident happened Friday around 6:30 p.m. at a garage on the 1500 block of Sansom Street where a South African working in town was victimized.
In both cases police say that a woman pulled up in a Toyota with out-of-state plates. In the JFK Boulevard incident, a man the woman thought was the attendant got in her car and drove off right in front of her. In the Sansom Street incident police say the “valet” gave the woman an outdated ticket before he made off with her vehicle.
NBC10’s Nefertiti Jaquez spoke exclusively to Madeline Vaneck, the victim of the Sansom Street theft. Vaneck says she is in the area doing auditing work for three months. She says her 2013 Rav4, a rental, was stolen from right in front of her leaving her with a lost sense of security.
"I was intimidated because the guy was in my personal space," she exclusively told Jaquez. "He didn't touch me... but he came close to me.
"He got in and when I went to the back of the car to get my luggage out... he drove off with the car."
Police haven’t connected the two thefts but they do say the description of the suspect is each case is similar. They also don’t know right now if anyone else was victimized.
