Two Spirit Airlines employees are facing theft charges for allegedly snatching a passenger’s $500 Louis Vuitton wristlet purse left behind at a Florida airport, according to reports and authorities.
A passenger boarding a Spirit flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Austin, Texas, left a Louis Vuitton wristlet on the check-in counter at Terminal 3 gate on Oct. 19, according to arrest records obtained by the Miami Herald.
The designer wristlet, valued at $505, was then handed to a Spirit employee and placed in a drawer at the gate, according to records obtained by the outlet.
Three days later, surveillance cameras allegedly captured Olukunle Idowu, a 49-year-old Spirit Airlines supervisor, and Hyacinth Linton, 56, taking the purse for themselves, the outlet reported.
At roughly 5:37 a.m. on Oct. 22, cameras allegedly recorded Idowu taking the wristlet out of the drawer, looking inside it, then moving to another gate to perform a full inventory of its contents.
Minutes later, Linton appeared next to him, and Idowu allegedly placed items from the wristlet in a plastic bag. Linton then took the emptied designer wristlet and put it inside her backpack, records alleged.
Just before 6:00 a.m., the two left the area as Idowu allegedly tossed the plastic bag into the garbage.
Idowu was arrested on Nov. 21 and has pleaded not guilty to a charge of petit theft valued at more than $100 and less than $750, according to court records.
Linton was arrested on Nov. 13 and charged with petit theft worth under $40. She was released after posting a $500 bond, records showed.
“We are aware that two employees were charged in November for an alleged theft,” Spirit Airlines said in a statement to The Post.
“One employee has been suspended without pay, and the other is on a leave of absence. We are conducting a thorough investigation into this matter and will take further action as deemed necessary following the conclusion of our investigation,” the statement said.
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