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Accused 'wedding crasher' tried to steal thousands in gift cards, police say

Milton police said a Lilburn woman crashed a wedding and tried to steal thousands of dollars in gift cards from a couple.

Wedding planner Ashley Baber told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik she noticed a woman who seemed out of place at an event Saturday in Milton.

“Initially, she was very nervous. She was shaking as I was questioning her and very agitated,” Baber told Petchenik.

Then, Baber said, she remembered a warning email she’d received about a woman stealing from a wedding over the summer.

The e-mail contained a grainy surveillance picture of a woman, and Baber said she realized the woman she had encountered was the same person.

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“Everything started clicking at the same time that this individual clearly didn’t belong here,” she said.

Baber told Petchenik that Kristina Dardo was wearing a jacket and concealing gift cards she’d taken right off a table of other gifts.

“A multitude of gift cards.  Apparently there was a box in front of the wedding venue where they had placed all these cards,” said Milton police Capt. Charles Barstow.  “It was very brazen.  We’re not talking about your typical wedding crasher.”

Barstow said his department is working with detectives in Roswell, Norcross, Canton, Marietta and Lilburn on similar cases involving allegations against Dardo.

“It’s unfortunate that they can’t rely on people to not crash the wedding and have a thief walk in,” he said.

Baber said Dardo once worked for a catering company, which is how she learned about some of the events.

She said she doesn't know how Dardo learned about this wedding, and she suggests couples keep their announcement web pages private, if possible.

But that’s not all.

“We are really encouraging people to eliminate gift tables at weddings - no card boxes, no gift tables,” she said. “We want to eliminate any opportunity for someone who wants to steal to have the opportunity to do so.”