Atlanta police said two people arrested for stealing wallets are wanted in several other counties.
Police said surveillance video shows Cortez Benjamin and Cherie Miller in January stealing a woman's purse from a Midtown restaurant on West Peachtree Street. It's a crime investigators say the pair repeated over and over again, targeting customers throughout metro Atlanta.
"Right now, just for our jurisdiction, we're going to have over 140 charges on them," said Lt. Jeff Cantin.
Georgia Tech police said officers spotted Benjamin and Miller at the campus Barnes & Noble and recognized the pair from an APD alert.
Investigators said Miller had three stolen credit cards in the waistband of her pants and two people in the store reported their wallet and cellphone had just been stolen. Investigators said they recovered the wallet inside the pair's car.
Police said the pair was staying at the Days Inn on Northside Drive, where they recovered a shoebox full of stolen cards.
"I noticed this gentleman getting water at the water fountain and I particularly had a lot of money in my wallet that day," Sherry Wright told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri. Wright said she recalled Benjamin and Miller sitting near her on Feb. 24 as she had lunch on East Andrews Drive in Buckhead.
She said she hung her purse and coat on her chair. She noticed her wallet missing just 30 minutes later.
"They had done $900 worth of damage at the Home Depot, they'd hit Bloomingdale's for $500 and Macy's for about $400," Wright said.
Atlanta police said they're in the process of contacting victims whose cards they recovered. Miller and Benjamin face credit card theft and identity fraud charges.
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