In Center City, a robbery gave new meaning to the idea of a runaway bride.The young woman walked into Bridals by Danielle with a half dozen friends and family. She needed a dress quickly for an upcoming wedding.
"They bought the wedding gown, one of the most expensive wedding gowns, and all the accessories they bought, they were the most expensive," the owner of the shop told Action News.
The owner says the dress alone was $5,000. But when it was time to pay, they said an uncle from New York would be paying by credit card. "We did require a fax of the driver's license and a copy of the American Express they used, front and back," the owner said.
The problem is police say it appears to have been a stolen credit card. The owner, who hails from Romania, believes the group may be gypsies, an ethnic group, largely in Europe, who trace their origins to the Indian Subcontinent and police sources agree. They say it appears to be the work of transient criminals.
While in the store, the group spoke a dialect none of the bridal staff had ever heard. "This is their trade, to steal," the owner said. The alleged bride said her name was Theresa Thompson and her mother was Fatima Mitchell. But besides that, police have few leads and the owner wants to warn other business owners to lookout.