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Posted by: DeputyFife

Published: 12/04/2007
Police seek woman who scooped up dropped wallet
By Katie Farrell
Staff writer



AMESBURY - An Amesbury woman is pleading for the woman who scooped up the wallet she dropped while in line at CVS yesterday morning to return it, saying it was full of money for a family vacation to Disney World on Friday.
Melissa McGrail said she had just finished paying for a purchase at CVS on Main Street about 8 a.m. when she dropped her black Liz Claiborne wallet. Not realizing it, she left the store. She realized the wallet was gone when she went to pay at her next stop, Dunkin' Donuts.
Police said surveillance cameras at CVS captured the image of a woman behind her in line picking up the wallet. The footage shows a woman with black hair in her mid-40s, wearing a pink Nike baseball cap and a black Nike coat, McGrail said.
McGrail said her wallet contained $800 in cash. She was planning to stop at the bank after she finished her errands to get travelers checks for the Disney trip, she said. Her wallet also had her license and other identification, she said.
McGrail said her family - which includes her three sons, ages 13, 7 and 5 - is planning to leave for Disney on Friday for a week's vacation.
"I hope she knows this was a special trip for these kids," McGrail said. "I just wanted to plead with her to give it back ... or even just my license back, so I can get on the plane."
Officer David Clark said he is reviewing the surveillance tape and working with CVS in hopes of identifying the woman.
"She's not a regular, but she has been in the store before," Clark said. Clark said store personnel are looking into whether the woman used a CVS ExtraCare card - a card customers swipe during a purchase in order to get discounts and coupons - which could help locate her.
"It's a possibility," Clark said.

Published: 12/05/2007
Woman charged with theft in CVS wallet scooping
By Katie Farrell
Staff writer



AMESBURY - A woman identified from surveillance camera footage as the one picking up a wallet full of money off the floor at a local pharmacy was arrested by Amesbury police yesterday and charged with larceny.
Antoinette Silvey, 49, of 111/2 Aubin St., Amesbury, was arraigned in Newburyport District Court yesterday afternoon on charges of larceny over $250 and is being held without bail, pending restitution to Melissa McGrail of Amesbury, who dropped the wallet while in line at the CVS on Main Street. Police said Silvey's family has agreed to pay the money back.
According to Detective David Pare's report, Silvey admitted she was a recovering cocaine addict and had used the money in the wallet to buy two "eight-balls," or one-quarter ounce, of cocaine.
McGrail notified police Monday that she realized her wallet was missing after she had left the store. Surveillance cameras captured the image of a woman behind McGrail in line picking up the wallet. McGrail said the wallet contained $800 in cash to purchase travelers checks for a family vacation to Disney World on Friday, as well as a credit card and her identification.
After the surveillance camera image was released to the media, Silvey was identified by anonymous tips called into the police station.
According to police reports, Silvey said she was waiting in line and noticed a penny on the floor. When she leaned over to pick it up, she saw the wallet, and impulsively picked it up and took it home, she told police.
Silvey told police the wallet had $404 in cash, along with identification. Pare said that Silvey had McGrail's identification and wallet in an envelope to return to her.
"She was very remorseful," Pare said. The police have received phone calls from people offering to donate to McGrail so her family could still go on their trip to Disney World, Pare said. He planned to notify the callers that the money was being returned.
Silvey will return to court on Jan. 15 for a pretrial hearing.
Of McGrail, Pare said, "she can't thank us enough."
"She's very happy," he said.

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