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Brazen theft caught on camera as woman steals from staff at Simcoe County businesses

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Police in Barrie and Innisfil are investigating at least two brazen thefts from staff areas at local businesses.

While police have yet to confirm a link, victimized business owners are convinced the same pink-haired woman is responsible.

On Saturday, Stephanie Gareau says her wallet was stolen from behind the front desk at Body Works, a wellness studio in Barrie.

Gareau had been working in a room just off the entrance with the door closed when she heard someone in the reception area.

Surveillance video captures Gareau greeting the woman who asked about a weight room before leaving.

Gareau says watching the footage now makes her feel sick to her stomach.

"It made me feel very uneasy, unsettling that I'd been chatting with her. She had my wallet under her arm," Gareau says.

The designer wallet had been a gift from her boyfriend to celebrate weathering the storm of the pandemic. Tucked inside was a few hundred dollars, debit and credit cards, identification for Gareau and her daughter and a $1,300 cash deposit for her business.

Gareau estimates the monetary loss to be about $3,500 but is more bothered by the fear the theft stirred up in her 11-year-old child and the intrusion on what she thought was a safe space.

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Employees at Sandycove Drug Store describe a similar incident on Dec. 1.

"This should be like a safe space for us. And we feel so violated that somebody that bold and callous would do something like that to us," says owner Christina Privado.

Surveillance video shows a woman wandering down a staff-only hallway into an office and locker room.

Privado says four personal and business credit cards were swiped from her office, and a wallet was stolen from a locker.

The woman on camera has the same pink hair, same fingers filled with rings and the same purse as the woman on the Body Works footage.

Manager April MacDougall saw the woman emerge from the hallway but was on the phone with a client when she started asking for directions.

MacDougall says she now finds the woman's demeanour disturbing.

"How calm and collected that she was, I found was very upsetting," MacDougall says.

Privado and MacDougall say their cards were used to make thousands of dollars worth of purchases before they realized they'd been stolen.

A Barrie police spokesperson says these kinds of thefts are not uncommon but serve as a reminder to cut off opportunities.

"Secure what is yours, keep it in a safe place, lock it up so it'll be there at the end of the day or when you need it next," says Peter Leon.

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