Purse-Snatchers Hit Local Gyms

Westlake Police are noticing a rise in purses being stolen from parked cars, and many of those thefts are happening at gyms.

Since Dec. 10, there have been three thefts from Bally's, two from Urban Active Fitness, and one each from Jazzercise and Inner Bliss Yoga.

Each time, the purse was left in the car and not the trunk, sometimes with the victim "hiding" the purse under the seat or trying some other kind of camouflage.

Police Capt. Guy Turner, the department's public information officer, said that if gym-goers don't bring their purses into the gym and lock them securly in a locker there, they should either lock their purses out of sight in a trunk, or bring as little as possible with them when they go to work out.