‘Career criminal’ arrested for pick-pocketing and credit card fraud throughout Florida: Sarasota police

Woman charged in suspected pickpocketing ping

A career criminal from Chile has been arrested for pick-pocketing and credit card fraud after the Sarasota Police Department says he and two other suspects targeted a mother who was caring for her newborn. FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports. 

SARASOTA, Fla. - A woman police describe as a career criminal has been arrested for pick-pocketing and credit card fraud.

The Sarasota Police Department said 52-year-old Margarita Maldonado and two other suspects carefully picked a table next to a mother caring for her newborn in a St. Armands Circle business on Dec. 26. Sarasota police say when the mother stepped away, one suspect took her wallet from her purse while the others acted as lookouts.

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What they're saying:

"This is not something they just decided to do that night," John Lake, the manager of the Sarasota Police Department's Real Time Operations Center, said. "They work together in sync. They have lookouts."

"In one case, you see the woman trying to cover her hand with a scarf as she sneaks her hand in the purse while the others serve as lookouts," Lake said.

The suspects had scouted out a nearby business, police say, but then moved on to the next where the incident happened.

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"That night, we also got notified of a similar theft that happened in Bradenton, and then the very next day we started paying attention. It was over the weekend, we started pay attention to social media and one of the analysts saw a Boca Raton theft. Again, very similar. And we started looking at the video and realized all three of the suspects were all identical," Lake said.

Those suspects were later seen trying to use stolen credit cards at an Apple Store. Police analyzed surveillance images in their Real Time Operations Center to create a timeline while working with Bradenton and Boca Raton Police Departments.

"It’s a huge asset. We have four analysts that are working in here. Any type of calls that go out, we're constantly listening to the radio. Detectives come down and we help them with cases. We've assisted with over 600 cases for last year," Lake said about the Real Time Operations Center.

"We just started going through some data, looking at vehicles in the area, vehicles up in Bradenton, we were able to link them to a vehicle. We did locate the vehicle over in Osceola County," he said.

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Osceola deputies pulled Maldonado over and arrested her. Investigators say they initially thought it was a misdemeanor petit theft, but they later discovered that the value of the stolen wallet and the attempted credit card transactions could result in up to four felony charges.

There’s also currently an ICE hold on Maldonado, who’s from Chile. 

The backstory:

Maldonado's criminal history includes fraudulent use of identification, credit cards, grand theft and money laundering in multiple states across the U.S.

Detectives have not identified the other two suspects.

What you can do:

Anyone with any information about this case is being asked to call the Sarasota Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 941-263-6070. You can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers of Sarasota County at 941-366-TIPS (8477).