Thursday, August 30, 2007

Wedding crasher makes off with couple's cash

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Anthony and Jennifer Smith left for their Florida honeymoon earlier this month thinking they'd have plenty of cash gifts to tally up after their trip.

But when the newlyweds returned, some bad news was waiting: Most of their wedding money was stolen by an envelope-snatching thief who crashed their reception without anybody noticing.

"You never think it's going to happen, you know, to you," Anthony Smith said Tuesday on ABC's Good Morning America. "You're celebrating, having a good time, and then you go on your honeymoon and you find out some guy just decides he needs to take everything."

The well-dressed man is believed to have made off with as much as $1,500 in cash gifts, police said.

He was recorded on a surveillance tape approaching a box containing gift envelopes at the Smiths' Aug. 17 wedding reception. He first approached the box with an envelope of his own, but rather than put it in, he walked away. Then he returned and grabbed the box's envelopes.

"He just went straight for the money," Jennifer Smith said.

The thief even knew to wear a blue and burgundy outfit — just like the clothes worn by members of the wedding party, she said.

"Maybe he found out from a guest?" she said. "We're not exactly sure."

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