ATLANTA — A psychiatrist who devotes time to helping prison inmates found herself the target of crime at a local gas station. The victim told Channel 2 Action News that thieves stole her purse and racked up thousands of dollars in credit card charges.
“It wasn't like I was picking the daisies. I was on alert,” Dr. Angela Shannon said.
Shannon said a thief snatched her tote bag from her car as she was filling up her tank.
A growing number of drivers, especially women, have been victimized by "slider crimes" as they pump gas. In a slider crime, a thief opens the door on the other side of the car to steal a purse or pocketbook while someone is standing at the gas pump. It can happen in a matter of seconds.
[ [READ MORE: Slider crime suspects back at it; woman becomes victim in just seconds] ]
“I popped my thing, and I’m watching my passenger side. That's where my purse (was),” Shannon said.
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But a moment later, a man sneaked up, opened the driver's side door and grabbed the tote bag. She spotted him getting ready to climb back into his car.
The three men in the car took off. Before she could cancel her credit cards, Shannon said, they racked up $2,800 in gift card purchases at two Kroger stores. She said the stores should have been more suspicious.
"Why didn't they ask for the ID of the person making these fraudulent purchases?" Shannon asked.
To make matters worse, the thieves went to Shannon's home.
"This morning, as my husband got up to go to work, he discovers his truck has been broken into and his wallet taken and they're charging things on him," Shannon said.
A day before she was robbed, "slider thieves" stole from another woman at the same gas station.
Atlanta police posted a sign warning customers to not to leave belongings in the car. Shannon said she never left her car. She told other customers to be careful.
"To let them know to really be on the lookout, but you never could have told me it would happen to me," Shannon said.