A mother-son crime team is targeting agents in San Francisco and Marin.
On May 4th, an agent at Zephyr met a potential buyer and her son at her office. While there, the son excused himself from the room to make a call. He came back and said they had to leave for a family emergency, and they quickly left the office. Several hours later the agent discovered her wallet missing from her purse. A call to the credit card companies revealed $9,000 in jewelry had just been charged.
Then on June 11th, two people meeting the same description showed up at Prudential’s Union Street office, but due to the agent’s sharp memory of the email that had gone out about the prior incident, she realized who they were. They left without taking anything. She alerted everyone at nearby offices to be on the lookout, but they soon struck again.
On June 13th, they met an agent at Coldwell Banker in Mill Valley, this time accompanied by a small dog. They distracted the agent, and then left the office. Shortly afterwards, the agent noticed her wallet was missing. They used her credit cards at stores in San Francisco.
How is it that the couple is so easily recognized? The woman, in her ’60s, has very bad teeth. In fact, agents are calling her “The Bad Tooth Bandit.” She’s thin, has reddish-brown dyed hair, and appears to be a drug addict. She went by the name “Mollari.” The son may be in his 40s, and claimed to be with the Police Department.
If they arrive at another office, agents have been urged in advance that the couple shouldn’t be left alone, and police should be called only when it is safe to do so.