Woman caught on camera stealing sign from B&B

St. Augustine innkeeper says surveillance camera captures theft

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Police in St. Augustine are looking for a woman who they believe is responsible for the thefts of signs at multiple businesses.

Surveillance video from August shows the woman stealing a small, custom sign off the pole outside the Agustin Inn Bed and Breakfast.

The owner, Darlene Armstrong, said she was lucky to catch the theft on camera.

Shortly before the theft, Armstrong had her surveillance cameras replaced because the old ones hadn't been working for months.

“It was so amazing that we were able to catch them on it (after we changed them),” Armstrong said.

She described what happened in the surveillance video on Aug. 25.

“She looked up at the sign. She looked around. She went in the front gate, climbed up on the table, (and) she took it down,” Armstrong said. “She looked to her friend and dropped it to him.”

Armstrong hasn’t replaced the sign, which was practically new.

“I had changed the sign recently and made it a little smaller, a little more contemporary, and put it back up, so I was looking at it as I came in, in the mornings, and then it wasn't there,” Armstrong said.

Instead of a sign on the front wall, now there is a small logo with the name hand-painted with stencils from a craft store.

Armstrong said hopefully soon she will either get the old one back or have a new one in its place.

“I did go and check with two other sign people. It would take too long. I didn't know when I could get it. I didn't know how much it was going to cost. I said 'let's just ink it on for now,'” Armstrong said.

Investigators with the St. Augustine Police Department said they believe the woman may also be responsible for two other sign thefts in the area. Investigators said she has distinguishable tattoos on her left calf, right arm and back.

Anyone who recognizes the woman in the surveillance video is asked to call the St. Augustine Police Department at 904-825-1070.