Binghamton Crime Stoppers Current Cases

Wallentina Knapek

Fugitive, Wallentina Knapek

On Wednesday, June 23, 2004, a Larceny occurred in the Town of Vestal, New York. At 8:50 PM, on that date, a woman later identified as Wallentina Knapek, entered the Target Store located at 3112 Vestal Parkway East. Using a scam known as, "Till Tap", Wallentina skillfully employed tactics of confusion and distraction to remove and steal over $1,200.00 from an open cash drawer.

Knapek is part of a Gypsy group that travels across the country, utilizing this scam tactic to commit larceny and theft. A store such as Target is singled out by the group and becomes the object of their next till tap scam. A member or members of the group will then enter the store and seek out an inexperienced or young looking cashier to work the scheme on. The cashier is approached and a request for change of a large bill is requested. Once the cash register is open, the thief confuses the cashier over how the change is being made, and in the process, removes money from the drawer. The unsuspecting cashier has no idea that money has just been stolen, and the theft is not discovered until later when the cash drawer is counted.

Knapek has stolen money from the Vestal Target on two other occasions, earlier this year. An Arrest Warrant for Knapek, charging her with Grand Larceny is currently held by the Vestal Police Department. In addition, there are Warrants for her arrest held by 8 other Police Agencies in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Wisconsin. All of those warrants are for Larcenies and Thefts by deception.

Wallentina Knapek is a white female, 54 years of age, No permanent address, 5’3" tall and approximately 150 pounds. She has brown eyes and changes her hair color and style often. She has colored the hair red, brown, black and blond. Knapek has over 50 aliases that she has used, the most common is Maria Lee, she also has over 15 different dates of birth that she has used. She has portrayed herself as unable to hear and speak in the past, in order to pull off a scam. She has been previously arrested in 14 different states.

Binghamton Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1000.00 for information which leads to the arrest and indictment of the individual(s) responsible for these crimes.


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