Left: Gabrielle Marshall-Mackin is interviewed at the grave site of her daughter, Alessandra (YouTube screengrab/KRIV). Right: Latoya White is seen on surveillance footage (Harris County Constable Precinct 6).
A woman is behind bars in Texas for allegedly stealing from a grieving mother who left her purse in her car as she tended to her daughter’s grave site.
Latoya White, 35, is accused of theft, credit card abuse, and breaking into a vehicle. According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the office of the Harris County Constable Precinct 6, Gabriella Marshall-Mackin was “decorating her deceased daughter’s headstone” at the Forest Park Funeral Home in Houston on April 3 when White stole her purse from her car.
Mackin’s daughter Alessandra had passed away from leukemia, according to local Fox affiliate KRIV.
While visiting her daughter’s final resting place, Mackin had left her purse inside her car and left her door open. At one point, she saw a woman — later believed to be White — getting into a small black SUV parked close to Mackin’s car before driving away.
Mackin “believed that it was strange that anyone else was so close to her either with their person or their vehicle because of how large and generally empty the cemetery grounds are,” the affidavit noted.
Shortly thereafter, the affidavit said, Mackin started receiving fraud alerts on her cellphone about three credit cards — two in her name and one business card.
“She learned from the notifications that someone was attempting to charge $494.00 to each of the cards at a Walgreens” in Harris County, the affidavit said.
Police met Mackin at the Walgreens and determined that White had been there. A Walgreens employee handed over a surveillance photo of White that was taken as she tried to use the stolen cards, the affidavit noted.
White was first identified as the suspect after a tip from a local independent investigative outfit called Grizzy’s Hood News, which cited an anonymous source. The constable’s office thanked the local news site in its announcement of White’s arrest on Facebook.
The affidavit said the investigating officer also said surveillance footage from multiple area businesses showed White driving her car on what is described as “the fastest route from the cemetery to the aforementioned Walgreens.”
Mackin later identified White from a lineup as the woman near her car at the cemetery.
Mackin told KRIV that she visits the cemetery regularly and believed it to be a “safe place.” She also said that in addition to credit cards, Mackin’s purse contained invaluable mementos of her late daughter.
“That’s all I have is the mementos because I do not have her anymore,” Mackin told the station.
Records show that White is still in custody and has a court date scheduled for Wednesday.
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