Pretended to Be a Guest and Ordered Drinks from Staff
Stole 140 Million KRW in Wedding Gifts and Fled
Local Police Tracking the Suspect’s Whereabouts
An incident occurred at a wedding in the United States where a man pretending to be a guest stole the entire wedding gift box containing cash gifts. The amount stolen reportedly reached as much as $100,000 (approximately 139 million won).
According to reports from American media outlets such as ABC and CBS News on September 3 (local time), an unidentified man appeared at a wedding reception hall in Glendale, California, on the 30th of last month. He stayed for about 90 minutes before fleeing with the entire wedding gift box.
Pretending to Be a Guest, He Stole $100,000 in Wedding Gifts
On the 30th of last month (local time), a man stealing a wedding gift box at a wedding hall in Glendale, California, USA was caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV). Photo by CBS News
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from that day shows a man dressed in black entering the reception hall during the wedding celebration. The footage captures him moving naturally around the venue, ordering drinks from staff, and otherwise behaving like a guest.
After carefully observing the scene, the man took advantage of a moment when guests were dancing to quietly pick up the box containing the envelopes and slip out of the venue. He then drove away in a black Mercedes-Benz. The groom’s side later contacted each of the approximately 300 guests who had attended the wedding to confirm the scale of the missing gifts, estimating the loss to be between $80,000 (about 111 million won) and $100,000 (about 139 million won).
"A Perfect Party Turned Into a Nightmare"
The groom, George Farahat, said, "Since many people give cash and checks, we collected the envelopes and kept them together in a box. The perfect party became a nightmare from that moment." The bride added, "As soon as we realized what had happened, the music stopped and the atmosphere froze. In the end, I could only sit on the dance floor and cry with my relatives."
They reported the incident to the police immediately and offered a $5,000 (about 7 million won) reward. They also asked the guests to share any photos or videos taken at the time. Police are tracking the suspect, believed to be in his 40s, and are focusing their investigation on the possibility that the crime was premeditated near the wedding venue.
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