Mounties in North Vancouver, B.C., have released hospital surveillance footage in hopes of catching the man responsible for the “shameless theft” of a new mom’s wallet while she feeding her premature newborn.
The woman returned to her hospital maternity room at Lions Gate Hospital Monday afternoon to discover her wallet had been taken from an unsecured drawer. She had left briefly to nurse her newborn in another room.
Hospital staff recovered the wallet from a garbage can down the hall, but $300 in cash was missing.
Cpl. Richard De Jong said it’s fortunate that the suspected thief was captured on a high-definition hospital security camera just outside of the mother’s hospital room. It’s hoped that sharing the image of the man will lead a member of the public to identify the suspect.
"This is truly a heartless crime, made all the more disturbing because it targets a new mom caring for her child,” Wendy Hansson, the COO of Lions Gate Hospital, said in a statement issued to media.
The hospital said it values the safety and security of its patients and is working with Mounties to help solve the crime.
There is no security within the ward, and with visiting relatives coming and going, it’s hard to tell if someone’s there who shouldn’t be, said De Jong.
“Other than someone acting suspicious, this person could have gone unnoticed for quite some time,” he told CTV News.
The North Vancouver RCMP can be reached at 604-985-1311.
