Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to see is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
It was Tuesday, August 22nd. We were working the day watch out of burglary division.
My partner's Frank Smith, the boss' Captain Wisdom. My name's Friday. A wave of thefts
had broken out in the city. There was no pattern to the thief's operations. There were no leads.
The number of thefts kept growing. We had to stop them.
I'm sorry to have kept you boys waiting, but I had to sign these papers.
Quite all right, sir.
Now, let me see your Smith and your Sergeant Friday, is that right?
Sir, that's right.
Well, I guess you know what the problem is.
Well, I didn't get it quite clear on the phone, Mr. Elliott. When did this last thing come up?
Well, the way we have it figured out, it must have happened around closing time yesterday,
between 5 and 5.30, we figure.
The store was crowded at that time, was it?
Yes, pretty busy. We had a special pre-winter showing in the fur department.
No one noticed it was going until after we closed up.
Can you give us a description of the piece of merchandise, Mr. Elliott?
Yes, I've got it right here. Silver blue-mink stole, satin lining, two slashed pockets, silver chain fastening.
Complete description of it for you.
And those are the code numbers and serial numbers on it, are they?
That's right. The whole thing's getting away out of hand, Sergeant.
We've had a lot of things lifted from the store the last few weeks, but nothing this big.
This keeps up. I don't see how we're going to get our insurance renewed.
I guess your store detectives are working on this latest one, the missing fur, huh?
Yes, but it's the same as all the other cases we've had. They haven't been able to find a thing.
All the personnel have been checked, all the people who were around the department when the fur was stolen.
I mean, those it was possible to check on. As far as we know, they're all clear.
What were the circumstances of the thing, Mr. Elliott? I mean, was this mink stole on a display rack?
Did one of the models have it on? Exactly how was it?
Well, it was modeled, yes. After it was shown to several parties, it was put back in stock.
We have a special rack for the stoles, regularly enclosed cabinets, sliding doors on it.
Cabinets usually open during store hours. I see.
There was a store detective in the department at the time, all those sales people standing around.
I can't understand why one of them didn't see it happen.
Mr. Elliott, you say this is the first time an expensive item like this has been lifted from your store, huh?
That's right. Like I said, we've had dozens of less expensive things disappear.
Everything from a 50-cent handkerchief to a $100 handbag.
I suppose we might have expected it. I understand some of the other stores in the area have been hit pretty hard.
Yes, sir. It's been the last eight weeks. Most of the stores for eight or ten blocks along Wilshire here,
they seem to be getting the worst of it.
We've got a special shoplifting detail working in the area, staying as close to it as possible.
I guess you know as well as I do we can't stay in business this way, Sergeant.
There certainly must be some way to trap whoever's doing it.
Well, we're doing everything possible, sir. We're trying to cover it as best we can for you.
I think you'll agree just about the only way to reach the thieves is to grab them when they're actually stealing their things.
It just isn't possible for our detail to cover every department in every store.
Yes, you've got a point there. What about the known shoplifters in the city?
You keep a file on them, don't you? Yes, sir, we do.
There are a half a dozen people we're keeping an eye on.
We've got our stats office and our record bureau helping out. No definite lead so far, though.
Certainly can't understand it. We've had one meeting of the store personnel already.
Guess I'll have to call another one. We'll just have to be doubly careful, that's all.
How about the personnel, Mr. Elliott? You say there's been a check made on each one of them since this thing started.
Yes, sir, that's correct.
And there's no reason to be suspicious of any of your people at all, huh?
Well, as a matter of fact, there is one, Sergeant. Salesgirl.
She was up on five in the Sweet Sixteen shop, then she was moved down to cosmetics on the street floor.
What is it that makes you suspicious of her?
Well, before I say anything, I want to make it perfectly clear to you,
we've never had any real proof that there was something wrong there.
Dorothy started with us eight years ago. That's the girl's name, Dorothy Kirkman.
Mm-hmm.
She came to us right out of high school. She seemed to be doing all right.
Got along with the customers, dressed neatly, always on time.
Then all of a sudden, this shoplifting started.
I didn't think there was any connection at first, thought it was only a coincidence.
How do you mean, sir?
Well, just for instance, wait a minute.
I've got the file right here on the desk. Let's see. Yeah, here it is.
Out of the first fourteen items to disappear, six of them were out of Dorothy Kirkman's department,
right out of her section.
Cashmere sweaters, expensive blouses, scarves.
As I say, at first we wrote it off to coincidence, but it kept recurring.
Her section almost seemed to be the focal point of all the shoplifting.
That was at the beginning, of course.
Did you have the girl watched, Mr. Elliott, this Kirkman girl?
Yes, we did. The department head kept an eye on her, and, well, I guess Dorothy noticed it.
She resented it quite a bit.
That little spat with the head of the department, we thought it best for everyone if she transferred.
So we had to move downstairs to cosmetics.
Mm-hmm. How'd that arrangement work out?
Well, for the first few weeks, fine.
Then we started missing things out of cosmetics.
A lot of it didn't amount to too much. A lot of it did.
Makeup kits, expensive perfumes.
This time we called her in, tried to talk to her about it in a nice way. She got very resentful.
She denied knowing anything about it?
Yes, she got very upset.
Of course, there is one thing I will say. The items in cosmetics are on display all over the counter.
It's fairly easy for anybody to pick them up.
But the fact still remains that stealing began in her department upstairs.
She moves down to cosmetics, and all of a sudden the losses increase there.
What would you figure?
Yes, sir, I see what you mean.
What if we could have somebody point out this Dorothy Kirkman for us, Mr. Elliott?
I think maybe we'd better have a talk with her.
I'd like to help you, Sergeant. I'm afraid that's not possible.
Oh, how do you mean?
She quit last Saturday.
We got all the information available on Dorothy Kirkman from the store's personnel files,
and then we called the office and gave them a description of the stolen fur.
We asked them to check the Kirkman girl through R&I.
We contacted the shoplifting detail out of Forgery Division and filled them in on the developments.
She had no previous criminal record.
Before we left the store, we went to the fur department, talked to all the sales people concerned,
but we were unable to come up with anything new regarding the theft of the silver-blue mink stole.
We drove out to Dorothy Kirkman's last known address.
She wasn't home, but her mother was.
Her mother told us that the day before, her daughter had started on a new job as a sales girl at the House of Raymond.
It was an exclusive shop specializing in all types of cosmetics.
We checked the phone book and found that the House of Raymond was located in the same ten-block stretch along Wilshire Boulevard
where the shoplifting campaign was going on.
It was one of the few places along there that the thieves hadn't bothered.
It was three blocks from Anthony's store for women, the Kirkman girl's former place of employment.
No, I don't mind telling you. I got sick and tired of being called a thief. That's why I quit Anthony's.
A little of that goes a long way.
You started work here at Raymond's yesterday, Miss Kirkman, is that right?
Yeah, that's right. I think I'm going to like it a lot better than Anthony's.
While you were working here at Anthony's, ma'am, I suppose you heard that quite a bit of shoplifting was going on.
Yes, I knew about it. I guess every girl in the store knew about it.
Had a big personnel meeting about it.
Do you have any suspicions of your own, Miss Kirkman?
How do you mean that?
Well, I mean, was there anyone in particular you might have been a little bit suspicious of? Maybe one of the customers.
No, I've waited on some real weird ones, but I didn't see any of them try to walk out with anything.
All I knew was what Mr. Elliott told us at that meeting.
Well, this might be an embarrassing question for you, Miss. We'd appreciate an honest answer.
Yes.
What about the sales girls you worked with? Any of them ever give you a cause to be suspicious?
You mean, do I think any of them were doing the stealing? No.
There were some of them I didn't like. I didn't trust them either, but I wouldn't accuse them of stealing.
Wouldn't accuse anybody unless I had proof. It's the only thing I can say for some people I know.
By any chance, did you happen to be in Anthony's this past Monday?
Monday? No, why do you ask?
When you were working on the fifth floor up the street there at Anthony's, we understand that when the merchandise first started disappearing, a pretty good percentage of it was out of your section.
That's what they told me, yes.
And then when you were transferred downstairs to the cosmetics counter, quite a few things started disappearing from there.
We'd like an honest answer, Miss Kirkman. Do you have any explanation at all for this?
I'll tell you the same thing I told them at the store, Sergeant. I can't explain it, but I didn't have anything to do with it, believe me.
Well, you'll have to admit, ma'am, it's pretty much a coincidence, isn't it?
Call it whatever you want to. I didn't have anything to do with it.
Yes, ma'am.
The only thing I took home from that store was my paycheck.
At 438 p.m., we finished questioning the suspect Dorothy Kirkman, and Frank and I went back to the office and made arrangements to have the girl kept under temporary surveillance.
A bulletin had been gotten out on the missing fur stole. The pawn shop detail had been notified, and a description of the fur had been placed on the stolen property list.
The following day, along with officers Paul LePage, John Wood, and policewoman Gladys Young, we continued our investigation of the latest shoplifting complaints.
It went slow, a lot of legwork and no progress.
Like the dozens of other items of merchandise which had vanished in the last eight weeks, there wasn't a trace of the missing fur stole.
More men were added to the special detail on duty in the ten-block area where the stealing was going on.
Anyone in the city who'd ever served time for shoplifting was checked and rechecked.
Constant surveillance was maintained. Over a half a dozen known thieves who we figured might be involved.
It got us nothing.
Wednesday, August 23rd, 530 p.m. No leads, no progress. We went back to the office.
Hey, Joe. Skipper says it's gonna rain before tomorrow.
All right? Yeah.
I hope I get home before six o'clock.
I wanna get out and see that shoe repairman in our neighborhood.
Why, what's the matter? Oh, what a salesman.
I went in there the other day and he says,
Smith, you're an officer. You're on your feet all day.
I said, yeah.
He said, yep, you need some help with your feet.
I said, Charlie, what do you mean I need help with my feet?
He said, well, you're a cop. You're on your feet all the time.
So, how about a pair of art supports?
Well, that's nice.
He doesn't call them art supports, though.
Got a new name for them.
What's that?
Metatarsal supports.
Boom, down here in your foot. Yeah, I know.
Call them at, you know that? Yeah.
Metatarsal?
Well, he said, put one of them in your right shoe,
you'll be all right.
What was that again?
He said, just to wear one of them.
Put it in my right shoe, I'll be all right.
Well, how's it working out? Miserable.
Feels like I'm walking around with my foot in a bucket.
I'll get it.
Burglary Friday.
Oh, yeah, John.
Hey, dinner.
Where?
When?
Yeah. Okay. Thanks, boy. Bye.
Yeah?
It's Wood. He thinks he might have something for us.
Yeah.
That mink fur, it's just been found.
Two hours before, at approximately 3.30 p.m.
in the main depot of the Santa Fe bus lines,
a 38-year-old housewife of Mrs. Harriet Briggs
noticed an unclaimed parcel lying on one of the benches
in the depot waiting room.
When it became apparent to Mrs. Briggs
that the parcel was either lost or forgotten,
she picked it up and took it to the clerk in charge
of lost and found articles.
In checking the package for some kind of identification,
they discovered the silver-blue mink stole inside.
A car was dispatched to pick up the fur,
and it was identified as the garment taken from Anthony's fur salon.
Mrs. Briggs volunteered to come along to the office
to give what information she could.
Bus depot officials were instructed to notify us
in case anyone called for the package.
5.50 p.m. we interviewed Mrs. Briggs in the squad room.
That's right, officer, it was just a little before 3.30.
I was in the bus depot there waiting for my husband.
That's when I first noticed this package
lying on the bench just across from me.
I see. Would you go on, please, Mrs. Briggs?
I didn't think anything of it at first,
and I went on reading the afternoon paper.
But no one came for the package.
It was just lying there. It was there a long time.
How long would you say, ma'am?
How long did it take you to pick it up
and take it to the lost and found clerk?
Oh, I'd say 20 minutes, half an hour, that much at least.
I left it with the young man at the counter there,
and I told him I'd be back to see if anyone claimed it.
Well, when I did get back,
that's after I'd had dinner with my husband, Carl,
we found out what was in the package.
It's certainly strange.
Don't you think, officer?
Yes, ma'am. Did you happen to notice who it was that left the package there?
Well, I'm not really sure, officer,
but I think I know who it was.
A short woman. She had a brown jacket, if I remember rightly.
I think you'd say she was in her late 20s or early 30s.
Have you ever seen this woman before, Mrs. Briggs?
No, I never did.
Very attractive.
As I recall, she wore glasses.
Anything else about her you might have noticed?
Let me think. Oh, she had dark hair.
I remember that much.
Real pretty hair.
And you're sure that this woman you describe
was in the package there?
Well, if I remember rightly, she was the only one that sat across from me.
Guess it must be her. If it wasn't her, I don't know who else it could have been.
All right, Mrs. Briggs, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
That beautiful fur.
I know that woman must be just sick about losing it.
I certainly hope you find her, officer.
Yes, ma'am. So do we.
We had the stats office make a run for us on all females with shoplifting records
who fitted the description of the woman who'd left the mink stole
in the waiting room at the bus depot.
We checked with the lost and found clerk at the depot,
but he told us that no one had come back to report losing such a parcel.
Together with LePage and Wood, we checked out the names
on the list of known shoplifters which the stats office had made up for us,
names of possible suspects who physically resembled the dark-haired woman
seen in the picture.
We also checked out the names of the women who'd left the mink stole
and the suspects who physically resembled the dark-haired woman seen at the depot.
We got nowhere.
Either they had ironclad alibis or they had since moved out of the city.
We ran down every possible angle on the freak recovery of the missing fur stole.
During the next ten days, the case got more involved than it already was.
Some of the stolen articles of new merchandise began showing up,
but not through any of the channels we expected.
Some of the items were found dumped in sidewalk refuse cans.
Some were found in hotel lobbies, in the post office, in theaters.
Some were found tossed in vacant lots.
The only logical answer we could figure was that it was the work of somebody
who was stealing for the love of stealing, the kleptomaniac.
Tuesday, September 4th.
A 15-year-old girl in one of the exclusive residential neighborhoods
was finding two parcels containing women's clothing and expensive costume jewelry.
They still had the price tags on them.
Frank and I drove out to talk to the girl, a Patricia Denvers.
Where'd you happen to find these things, Patricia?
In the empty lot that's right down the block. I can show you.
I was on my way home from the show.
I brought the things home and showed them to my mother.
She called the police.
If nobody claims this package with the costume jewelry, can I keep it?
It's certainly beautiful.
I'm afraid not, Pat.
We know who the things belong to. We're gonna have to return them.
I certainly don't understand that. How do you mean?
Well, as far as I could see, she threw the things away.
I thought she didn't want them.
What do you mean, Pat? Who didn't want them?
The lady who threw them in the empty lot.
You saw who it was that threw those packages in the lot, did you?
Yes. I was on my way home from the show, just like I told you.
I could see this lady walking up ahead of me.
She was about a block away, I guess.
When she went by the lot, I saw her take these packages out from under her arm
and toss them in the grass.
She wouldn't do that if she wanted them, would she?
Did you get a good look at this woman, Pat? Any idea what she looks like?
She's a good-looking woman. Short, has beautiful dark hair.
Her husband's a doctor.
Well, then you know who she is. You've seen her before, huh?
Well, I don't know her to talk to. I just see her around the neighborhood.
Does she live around here, do you know?
Right next door to my girlfriend.
The
Tuesday, September 4th, 515 p.m.
With the help of the 15-year-old girl, Patricia Denvers,
we got the name and address of the woman who had been seen
tossing the parcels of stolen merchandise into a vacant lot in the west end of the city.
The woman was identified as a Mrs. Virginia Sterling,
the wife of a Dr. Bruce Sterling, a fairly prominent young surgeon
with offices in Beverly Hills.
Mrs. Sterling and her husband had no children.
They leased a richly furnished house in a residential section of the city
that was considered better than upper middle class.
We checked Virginia Sterling through R&I, but she had no previous criminal record.
The next day, with officers LePage and Wood, we covered the various stores
along Wilshire Boulevard that had been victimized in the recent shoplifting campaign.
We found that Mrs. Sterling had charge accounts at almost every one of the stores.
Generally speaking, we found her accounts in very good standing,
and among the store people she was regarded as what is referred to as a fine customer,
a good spender, a good credit risk.
Right down to the Retail Credit Association, there was nothing but favorable reports on the woman.
715 p.m. We drove out to the house of Dr. Sterling and his wife.
Mrs. Sterling answered the door and invited us in.
Thank you.
Would you like a drink?
No, no thank you.
No thanks, ma'am.
I really don't know when the doctor will be back.
He was called over to the hospital.
Is it anything I can help you with?
Well, as a matter of fact, Mrs. Sterling, we came out to talk to you, not your husband.
Really? What is it you wanted to talk to me about, officer?
Ma'am, we understand that you do quite a bit of your shopping along Wilshire Boulevard,
in the downtown area, I mean.
Yes, I shop downtown quite often.
Except for the problem with parking, I find it a lot more convenient.
Why do you ask?
Mrs. Sterling, do you do much of your shopping at Anthony's?
I believe that's in the Wilshire downtown area.
Yes, I do, for my sports clothes.
They have a very good selection.
Uh-huh.
Do you remember if you were in Anthony's on the 22nd of last month?
I believe that was a Tuesday.
On a Tuesday?
I don't think I can remember one way or the other.
I really don't have any special day for shopping.
I just go when I feel like it or when I need something.
Have you ever been in the fur salon at Anthony's, ma'am?
Have you ever bought anything there?
I suppose so.
I've been in almost every department at Anthony's, one time or another.
I can tell you, though, I've never bought any furs there.
As I said, the main reason I go there at all is because of their sportswear.
Would you tell me what this is all about, please?
It's a routine investigation, ma'am.
I wonder if you could tell us this.
Do you have occasion to travel in the area by bus?
By bus?
No, I don't think I've been on a bus since I've been married.
That'll be six years this coming December.
And you've never been in the main bus depot downtown?
No, I think I know where it is.
I've driven past it.
I've never been inside, though.
Why should you want to know that?
Well, we'll be honest with you, ma'am.
It has to do with an investigation we're on.
We've had a couple of reports that you were seen at the bus depot on August 23rd.
That was a Wednesday.
Reports came from pretty reliable people.
Well, I certainly consider myself reliable.
I say I've never been there.
If you don't mind, I'd like some kind of explanation for this questioning.
You mean you have no idea why we drove out here to talk to you?
Of course not.
Number one, I don't understand your questions at all.
And number two, I'd like to know what they have to do with me.
It has this to do with you, ma'am.
Last August 23rd, a woman in a brown sports jacket answering your description left a package in the bus depot.
The package contained a mink stole taken from Anthony's.
The woman who left the package in the depot fits your description perfectly.
Is that so?
Well, that's a coincidence.
Yes, ma'am, maybe.
I suppose you've read in the papers about the big increase in shoplifting, most of it's taking place right in the area where you say you do most of your shopping.
We've checked out every single one of the cases, Mrs. Sterling.
It took a long time.
We found a dozen salespeople in those stores.
Every one of them tells us you were around the particular store when the shoplifting took place.
Law of averages, Mrs. Sterling.
You show up too often in the reports.
Could you please leave my house?
Both of you, please.
I'm sorry, Mrs. Sterling.
I'm afraid you'll have to come along with us.
What do you mean by that?
Don't you know you can get in trouble making false accusations?
I'm going to call my husband right now.
Yes, ma'am, if you like, go right ahead.
Sergeant?
Yes, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am.
We've got your story, ma'am.
Right after this afternoon, you went shopping today, you stole things as usual.
When you tried to get rid of them, you were seen right in this neighborhood.
The vacant lot down at the next corner, you threw the stuff away there.
Somebody saw you.
They didn't know it was me.
Yes, ma'am.
They knew it was you.
9.35 p.m.
We got in the car and drove Mrs. Sterling downtown to the city hall.
We took her to the squad room, called a police stenographer,
and we began to take a complete statement.
One of the first things she did was to admit full responsibility
for the series of shoplifting's which had been going on for over two months.
She told us that her kleptomania, the urge to steal things,
had started with her as far back as her junior high school years.
She admitted as a girl, she stole books, tablets, pencils, pieces of chalk,
and as she grew older, it seemed to get more serious with her.
It carried over into her college years,
and that's when her stealing first got her into trouble.
It was when I joined the sorority.
It was just like high school.
I was all alone.
Oh, we had a lot of clever girls in our house.
Some of them were smart. Some of them were pretty.
All of them seemed to be doing something except me.
I had to prove it to them, I guess.
I had to prove it to myself.
And I was smart, too.
I see. And you figured that taking things was the best way to prove that?
Yes, I suppose so.
Of course, it wasn't easy, you know.
The awful part was, I got caught one day.
It was kind of a relief in a way.
I mean, how could they know I was just as smart as they were
if they didn't find out what I was doing?
Did you stay on at college after that, Mrs. Sterling?
No. I couldn't after that.
They voted me out of the sorority,
and there wasn't anything to do but leave.
So I left.
What happened after that?
I went to New York and stayed with an aunt I have there.
I got a job. I had several jobs.
Same thing came up again.
I lost two of the jobs.
Same thing over again.
I just couldn't help it.
It always means so much to me, taking things, not being caught,
getting away, getting away.
The things I took, they never meant anything to me.
Nothing.
It's just taking them and not having anyone know.
That's all that was important.
And the stealing went on, I mean, after you were married?
No. No, not at first.
I guess maybe a year or two.
We were very happy, Bruce and I.
Then he got busy, came out here and began to build his practice.
I didn't see as much of him.
We both wanted children.
We wanted them very much.
There weren't any.
Bruce began to spend more time away from home.
It's just like before.
Same thing.
I wasn't important.
It was all alone again.
There wasn't anybody.
You know what I mean, don't you, Sergeant?
Yes, ma'am.
There ought to be an answer someplace.
There isn't anything worse than being alone.
There has to be an answer someplace.
There is, but you won't find it in jail.
On December 9th, trial was held in Department 88, Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
The suspect was tried and convicted on three counts of grand theft, the terms to run concurrently.
Grand theft is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not less than one nor more than ten years.
The story you are about to see is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.