{"id":644749,"date":"2026-05-03T08:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/644749\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T08:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:37:21","slug":"thieves-squirt-ketchup-on-senior-in-distraction-theft-in-scarborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/644749\/","title":{"rendered":"Thieves squirt ketchup on senior in distraction theft in Scarborough"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>The hunt is on for a man and woman who allegedly\u00a0used\u00a0ketchup to distract\u00a0and steal from\u00a0a senior citizen\u00a0at a Scarborough bank last month.<\/p>\n<p>And investigators have now released images of two unidentified suspects hoping members of the public will recognize the pair and come forward.<\/p>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Toronto Police allege the man and woman \u201cfollowed an elderly victim into a bank\u201d\u00a0at Eglinton Square\u00a0Shopping\u00a0Centre\u00a0\u2013\u00a0located\u00a0at\u00a0Eglinton Ave.\u00a0E.\u00a0and Pharmacy Ave.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0around 2:20 p.m. on April 15.<\/p>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Loading...\" height=\"64\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/21.1.1\/websites\/images\/common\/icon-spinner-animated.svg\" width=\"64\"\/><\/p>\n<p>We apologize, but this video has failed to load.<\/p>\n<p>Play Video<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u00a0observed\u00a0the victim withdrawing a quantity of money and then followed him out of the bank,\u201d police allege.<\/p>\n<p>Police claim the man\u00a0\u201csquirted ketchup on the victim\u2019s back\u201d\u00a0and walked away, then\u00a0the woman approached\u00a0thesenior\u00a0\u201cto help him in cleaning the back of his jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the victim was being helped, the man and woman stole the victim\u2019s money and fled the area,\u201d police claim.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"distraction 1\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/distraction-2.jpg\"  height=\"693\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\"\/> Investigators need help identifying a man (seen here) and woman who squirted ketchup on an elderly man to distract him, then stole his money at a bank in Scarborough on April 15, 2026. Photo by Handout \/Toronto Police<\/p>\n<p>Police have released security camera\u00a0video\u00a0and images of two unidentified suspects.<\/p>\n<p>The man is described as having a heavy build and a short beard. He was wearing glasses, a black jacket, black\u00a0pants\u00a0and\u00a0light-coloured\u00a0shoes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"distraction 1\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/distraction-1.jpg\"  height=\"730\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\"\/> Investigators need help identifying a man and woman (seen here) who squirted ketchup on an elderly man to distract him, then stole his money at a bank in Scarborough on April 15, 2026. Photo by Handout \/Toronto Police<\/p>\n<p>The woman is described as having a slim build and dark hair in a ponytail. She was wearing a\u00a0light-coloured\u00a0coat, a scarf, carrying\u00a0a dark\u00a0knapsack\u00a0and wearing\u00a0white shoes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInvestigators believe there may be other victims,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/news\/local-news\/11-arrests-distraction-thefts-hamilton-seniors\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Three suspects \u2013 Florian Stoian, a 40-year-old Markham man, and Ana Petrescu, a 46-year-old Scarborough woman, and an unidentified man are sought for distracting at least two senior citizens while they shopped and stealing their wallets on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/distraction-1-e1765378686180.jpg\"  class=\"lazyload\" height=\"96\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"96\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>11 arrests in distraction-style thefts targeting Hamilton seniors<\/p>\n<p> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/news\/local-news\/pickpockets-video-distraction-thefts-hamilton-police\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Three suspects \u2013 Florian Stoian, a 40-year-old Markham man, and Ana Petrescu, a 46-year-old Scarborough woman, and an unidentified man are sought for distracting at least two senior citizens while they shopped and stealing their wallets on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/distraction-1-e1765378686180.jpg\"  class=\"lazyload\" height=\"96\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"96\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Video released as trio of pickpockets sought for distraction thefts in Hamilton<\/p>\n<p> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/news\/local-news\/distraction-thieves-target-kind-senior-citizen-at-whitby-grocery-store\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Investigators need help identifying and tracking down a man and a woman suspected of distracting an elderly woman at a Whitby grocery store, stealing from the senior's purse, then taking off in a white Hyundai SantaFe on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/distraction-thieves-1-e1736951566813.jpg\"  class=\"lazyload\" height=\"96\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"96\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Distraction thieves target kind senior citizen at Whitby grocery store<\/p>\n<p> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information\u00a0regarding\u00a0this distraction theft investigation is urged to call\u00a0police at 416-808-4100 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\"><a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"mailto:cdoucette@postmedia.com\">cdoucette@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\"><a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SunDoucette\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@sundoucette<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article content The hunt is on for a man and woman who allegedly\u00a0used\u00a0ketchup to distract\u00a0and steal from\u00a0a senior&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-644749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}