Thefts Ruin Woman's Night On The Town: Annapolis Police

ANNAPOLIS, MD — An Annapolis man is facing a variety of theft charges after he allegedly stole a woman's purse and her vehicle Saturday night from a restaurant in the city's Eastport neighborhood, say the Annapolis police. They recovered the vehicle, but allege that the man used the victim's credit card at a local business before he was arrested.

Pedro Nguyen, 35, has been charged with theft, motor vehicle theft, theft of a credit card, fraudulent use of a credit card and false statement, for giving officers a false name during booking, the police said.

The incident began at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, when the woman saw that her purse had been stolen while she was inside the restaurant, according to a police report.

"She immediately went to check on her vehicle parked outside and discovered it had been stolen," the police said.

The woman contacted the police, and officers searched for and found the vehicle at 11:45 p.m. in the unit block of Bens Drive, around a mile south of Eastport. The police did not release a description of the vehicle.

When they found the vehicle, the officers spotted a man standing next to the driver’s door, but he walked away as the police were getting out of their cruisers.

The officers stopped the man, identified as Nguyen, "and located the vehicle keys and contents of the stolen purse along the path Nguyen had taken upon leaving the vehicle," the police said.

When they contacted the victim about her vehicle’s recovery, she told the officers that her stolen credit card had been used at a local business.

The police said they discovered that Nguyen had used the woman’s stolen credit card before the officers located him.

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Image: Patch file