A car break-in led one woman to try and hunt down the thief on her own.
On Tuesday morning, Tessa Kelly walked out to run some errands. She had parked on Cowley Way in Bay Park and saw her trunk door open, her locked doors now unlocked.
Inside, many bags of clothes destined for Good Will were gone.
Her wallet, which had slipped out of her purse, was also missing.
Soon, she discovered the thief had gone on a spending spree with her credit cards, spending $4,000.
“I felt violated, and angry and I couldn’t stop crying,” said Kelly.
When the tears finally dried, Kelly went to work, beginning with a trip to the Target on Balboa Avenue.
The thief had charged $2,800 at the store.
Kelly made sure the surveillance video was saved for police.
She posted her story on websites like Nextdoor.
She also tried to track down the wallet.
Before the theft, she had placed a Tile inside it, a Bluetooth tracker.
She says if the thief still has the wallet and accesses WiFi, she may be able to locate it.
Also, if she gets within 100 feet of it, the app may alert her.
10News rode along as she scoured her neighborhood.
“So I'm driving in my neighborhood in case they dropped the wallet, or live close by,” said Kelly.
So far, the app has not alerted her, but the one-woman detective unit plans to stay on the job.
“I want to see this person arrested. We are in a community and we need to help each other out. I want to help police get some answers, and stop this from happening to other people,” said Kelly.
If you have information about this theft you are asked to call San Diego Police or Crimestoppers at 888-850-8477.
