{"id":916370,"date":"2026-10-01T08:45:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916370\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T08:45:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:45:40","slug":"brampton-theft-woman-78-loses-20k-of-jewelry-near-home-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916370\/","title":{"rendered":"Brampton theft: Woman, 78, loses $20K of jewelry near home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raghavendra Kumar, son of the distraction theft victim, talks more about the harrowing ordeal his 78-year-old mother went through and how it has affected her. <\/p>\n

A Brampton man is speaking out after he says thieves stole $20,000 worth of jewelry from his 78-year-old mother while she was out for an evening walk in her neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The theft happened just before 6 p.m. on July 28 on a residential street near Chinguacousy Road and Bovaird Drive West<\/a> but the man only contacted CTV News last week after police in Toronto released footage of a similar incident involving a suspect who he claims resembles the woman who stole from his mother. <\/p>\n

In an email to CTV News, Peel police note that they are aware of the separate Toronto jewelry theft<\/a> in June involving a fake gold chain and a \u201csimilar\u201d looking vehicle but say there is currently no evidence to confirm the two are indeed related.<\/p>\n

\"\"BRAMPTON THEFT Police are investigating after a 78-year-old Brampton woman was allegedly robbed of $20,000 worth of jewelry during her evening walk earlier this year. \u2018She couldn\u2019t walk\u2019<\/p>\n

The Brampton theft, meanwhile, remains under investigation and police tell CTV News that they have identified a white Chevrolet Equinox as a vehicle of interest. <\/p>\n

Surveillance videos provided to CTV News appears to show an elderly woman walking on a sidewalk when an SUV can be seen stopping beside her. <\/p>\n

Raghavendra Kumar said his mother, who does not speak English well, initially believed the woman who approached her was a neighbour.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to gain trust, he says the woman bent down and touched his mother\u2019s feet before hugging her. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor about 10 seconds, she was completely believing and trusting of that female,\u201d Kumar said.<\/p>\n

He said the woman then placed a fake piece of jewelry around his mother\u2019s neck while removing her real gold necklace. The suspects also allegedly took her gold bangles before leaving in the SUV.<\/p>\n

See the image of the fake jewelry swapped onto the victim below.\"\"Stolen items The FAKE jewelry swapped onto the victim below (Raghavendra Kumar photo). <\/p>\n

Police have confirmed that the woman depicted in the video shared by Kumar is considered to be a \u201cperson of interest\u201d in the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n

Kumar estimates about 110 grams of jewelry worth roughly $20,000 in raw metal value was stolen.<\/p>\n

But he said the jewelry carried far more than monetary value for his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat jewelry is more emotional,\u201d he said. \u201cMy father passed away around 2008… the jewelry was gifted by my father when they got married in 1971.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kumar explained his father was a goldsmith who made the jewelry for his mother.<\/p>\n

\"\"Raghavendra Kumar Raghavendra Kumar speaks to CP24 on Saturday Sept. 26, 2026 (CP24 photo). <\/p>\n

When she realized what had happened, Kumar said she was \u201cshivering\u201d and that \u201cshe couldn\u2019t walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his mother eventually made it home but could not speak for a span of 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she rang the bell, I was tensed\u2026 because she\u2019s already a heart patient,\u201d Kumar said. \u201cI was more worried about her health. I was least worried about the jewelry at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

CCTV leads to vehicle of interest<\/p>\n

Kumar said he collected CCTV footage from several homes in the neighbourhood and provided it to Peel police and CP24. <\/p>\n

While the white Chevrolet Equinox has been identified as a vehicle of interest police have not provided a description of suspect(s) they are looking for at this time. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeel Regional Police are currently investigating the July 28 incident… (and) have reviewed the CCTV footage provided by Mr. Kumar,\u201d police said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Kumar said he has followed up with police every few weeks but has not received a significant update.<\/p>\n

He adds that his mother has also stopped taking her usual walks.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe looks forward to summers for evening walks,\u201d Kumar said, describing how his mother would walk around the crescent and frequently chat with neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is completely low. She has stopped going for walks outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said she now walks only in the backyard.<\/p>\n

Similar Toronto investigation<\/p>\n

Kumar first reached out after seeing a recent story<\/a> about a similar jewelry theft under investigation by Toronto police.<\/p>\n

In that June 26 incident, police allege a woman approached a victim near Ellesmere Road and Midland Avenue and asked for directions. A man then allegedly drove up and also asked for directions.<\/p>\n

Woman wanted after stealing gold chain off a victim, replacing it with a fake Andreea Ispas, 23, is wanted for robbery after stealing a gold chain off a victim and replacing it with a fake before fleeing the scene. <\/p>\n

Police say the woman got out, also placed a fake gold chain around the victim\u2019s neck and allegedly removed the victim\u2019s personal chain.<\/p>\n

The incident is just the latest in a series of distraction-style thefts that have made headlines across the GTA this year. <\/p>\n

For Kumar, the incident has left his family trying to make sense of what happened in a neighbourhood they had always considered safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone (in the family) was shocked because we never expected that can happen in our neighborhood for an elderly person,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peel police are asking anyone with information about the Brampton incident to contact 22 Division CIB investigators at 905-453-2121 x2233.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raghavendra Kumar, son of the distraction theft victim, talks more about the harrowing ordeal his 78-year-old mother went…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194339],"tags":[712,51759,49,48],"class_list":["post-916370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-apple-news","tag-brampton","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916370","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=916370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}