Organized Thieves Target U Street’s Bistro La Bonne

“Dear PoPville,

I live 2 blocks away from 14th & U and am a frequent at Bistro La Bonne [1340 U St, NW] – I know the staff quite well, have been going there for awhile now. Tonight, my best friend and I were sitting at the bar, right beside the entryway. Apparently a group of 5 Caucasians rolled through, 3 guys/2 girls, and while I was chatting away with my girlfriend (see: http://www.mediafire.com/?gko3394v8ewcns8 Ed. Note: A curse word is used for title of footage): a woman grabbed my purse that was hanging on my chair between my chair and my friend’s chair. The woman had come into the restaurant with a group, behind a bald man (see below) – they acknowledged the security coming in (this part of footage is not available yet), lingered, went towards the end of the bar, then walked out, picking up my bag along the way (I’m the last person at the end of the bar, all the way on the left). You can see this in the above referenced link (footage we taped while watching it at the restaurant – the robbery occurs at 9:46). The bald guy behind her was in on it, as was an Asian girl (visible in footage of outside the restaurant, though not available for this email) , a bearded white brunette male (see photo above), and the white brunette male you see next to him at the beginning of the footage.

They then proceeded to attempt to spend $512.00 at a CVS in Silver Spring. And they also tried to attempt to spend money at an Exxon Mobile in Silver Spring. (Insert declare: “USAA debit card ftw!”)

A police officer came by – we all reviewed the footage. This group of 5 were clearly professionals (hot damn they were – and I’m a NYer, I feel so… stupefied.). I’m reaching out to you because, as the officer mentioned, it was professionally executed. And since it happened on U Street (and they went to Silver Spring), it’s likely they’ve targeted U Street before. I’m enclosing footage and pictures for your viewers. Any help in the identification process is of course appreciated, but I recognize the impossibility of these incidents, and my principal hope right now is spreading the word on these motherf******, especially since it occurred at a rather popular spot like the Bistro.”