Woman accused of pickpocketing shoppers at Aventura Mall

Police: Silvia Lorenzo admitted to wearing wigs so people didn't recognize her

AVENTURA, Fla. – A woman has been arrested in connection with a series of pickpocketing thefts at the Aventura Mall.

Silvia Lorenzo, 58, was arrested Saturday after she tried to pickpocket a customer at the Gap Kids store, according to an Aventura police report.

An employee witnessed what was happening and startled Lorenzo, causing her to dump the items that she was using to cover the customer's purse, police said. 

The employee followed Lorenzo out of the store while speaking to police, watching as she went inside the Forever 21 store and changed into a different shirt, police said.

Lorenzo eventually left the mall and got into a silver Nissan, but the astute employee wrote down the license plate number, police said.

When police traced the license plate number to Lorenzo's home, she admitted to being a pickpocket, the report said.

Lorenzo said she has pickpocketed other shoppers in the past and wears wigs so people don't recognize her in the stores, the report said.