State Police Say 3 Nabbed In West Nyack Are Suspects In Monroe

Monroe - Three people from New York City arrested at the Palisades Center mall are suspects in a larger larceny scheme.
The three have a string of reports by women in Orange County. In each case, the victims have been approached by two strangers in store parking lots as they loaded their purchases into their vehicles.
Each woman said a gold Chrysler minivan had pulled up beside their car and was approached by a young woman claiming she had earlier witnessed a car striking the victim's car, then they were ushered over to the side of their cars as a second woman approached and provided a bogus license plate number for the phantom hit-and-run car.
With the two women distracting the victim, a third suspect went into the woman's car and stole her pocketbook. After leaving, the suspects used the stolen cash and credit cards to go on shopping sprees within hours of the thefts.
The first reported incident was in the Woodbury Commons parking lot and it was reported to Woodbury police. The second was outside BJ's Wholesale in Monroe and was reported to state police. And the third robbery happened outside Wal-Mart in Monroe.