Recently, a supermarket in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, China, uncovered a 'serial cherry thief.' CCTV footage recorded a woman repeatedly stealing cherries. After the store called the police, Chaoyang police investigated and discovered that the woman was actually a corporate legal officer with a decent monthly income. The suspect has now been criminally detained by police.
According to the supermarket surveillance footage, the woman specifically chose unattended corners to open the product packaging boxes, pour the cherries inside into her own handbag, while paying normally for her other selected items to avoid suspicion.
The supermarket’s manager, Mr. Wang, said this woman was not a first-time offender: 'We found that this was not the first time she did this.' He pointed out that she started by stealing small boxes of blueberries, and after succeeding, her actions became increasingly bold—once even stealing three boxes of cherries and one papaya in a single visit, not sparing bulk snacks, biscuits, and other items. Mr. Wang noted that by the time the supermarket officially took notice and reported to the police, the woman had already stolen cherries on six occasions.
As it turned out, the woman often shopped at the supermarket near her home. About a month ago, one day after shopping as usual, she found her total was cheaper than she expected after returning home, so she double-checked her receipt. She discovered that one of the items in her shopping bag was missing a price tag. She hadn’t noticed during checkout, and apparently neither did the cashier, nor did the store’s security alarm go off, so the item was not paid for. After discovering this loophole, she developed the mentality of taking advantage of small gains, and repeated this method several more times on later shopping trips.
Surprisingly, the woman worked as a legal officer at a company and had sufficient income to buy these products outright. After the incident, she deeply regretted her actions and proactively offered to pay 'ten times' the damages and hoped for the supermarket’s understanding. However, she was still unable to escape the law. Having committed theft, she has been arrested by police, and the case is under further investigation.