A thief was caught stealing from Cobbler's Rack Shoes and Repairs Inc. in Vernon

Photo: Cobblers Rack

A thief went into Cobbler’s Rack Shoes and Repairs, but the robbery didn’t go as planned.

Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, a man went into the store and store assistant manager Lois Starr says he must have come in behind a customer because they did not see him enter the store.

Starr said it was her landlady, Lucy, that witnessed the man steal a purse and run out of the store.

“Lucy saw the individual take the purse and she ran after him barefoot,” said Starr.

Lucy went after the man while calling out for someone to “stop him.”

Peter Kaz and David Scarlatescu from Hello Okanagan, were walking in the area when they saw Lucy chasing after the man.

Scarlatescu recognized the thief and ran after him.

Scarlatescu caught up to the man, grabbed his backpack and told him to return the purse, and after a bit of back and forth, the man obliged and released the purse to Scarlatescu.

The purse has been returned to the store.

Recently, Cobbler’s Rack Shoes and Repairs had another encounter with someone stealing from the store.

A couple weeks ago, Starr said a man came into the store asking to help for repairs and at some point stole a pair of insoles and left the empty box behind.

Starr said once they checked the cameras, they were able to see who the individual was.