Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Police are pretty sure they will catch a thief -- as long as enough people get a look at the suspect. He was Caught on Tape not once, but twice. 

Store cameras got a good look at the man investigators say went on a shopping spree with a stolen credit card.

Syracuse police say it all started when the victim left his wallet unattended in a shopping cart, and soon after it was stolen.

Sgt. Tom Connellan says the crime happened last Tuesday at the Sam’s Club on Erie Boulevard in DeWitt.

A credit card from that wallet was then put to use that afternoon and evening in stores all over Syracuse.

“We discovered that the card had been used five times between 3:00 in the afternoon and 8:00 at night,” Connellan says.

Cameras spotted the suspect making purchases at Granby's Market on Westcott Street. Just 15 minutes later, the suspect used that card again at the Mobil Mart on Nottingham Road, and again, he was Caught on Tape. 

In all, about $1,000 in purchases were made, from Nottingham Road to a Geddes Street clothing store, to a north side market on Butternut Street.  None of the clerks asked for a second form of ID, and that's where police say you can help yourself:

“What we suggest is that you try to maybe write on your credit card, ‘see id’, so that when the clerks do get the card, and they try to compare the signature, that person has to provide some identification, maybe with a picture, so they know it's the right person using the card,” Connellan says.

Clay (WSYR-TV) - They believe he's repeatedly ripped off the Sears store in the Great Northern Mall, and now, state police are asking you to be On The Lookout for him.

Troopers have released some security camera footage that, with your help, could nail down the suspected tool thief.

“Loss prevention frequently looks at individuals with their video equipment, which they have all over the store, and they were able to pick up on this individual who they suspected had shoplifted in the store previously, and has done some other shoplifting,” says Trooper Jack Keller.

Cameras watched the suspect very closely as he makes his selection: A $500 Dewalt hand tool combo set. The man grabs the box and heads right out the door, with security hot on his trail.

As the call to 911 goes out, the man drops the box, and runs.

A trooper happened to be in the mall when that call went out; he came out to the mall parking lot, grabbed his K9 partner, and tried to track the suspect.  They lost him in the woods.

“When he goes through the heavy brush behind the mall, he loses track.  We believe at this point the suspect had a car waiting for him in the Morgan Road area, around the mall,” Keller says.

Even though he didn't get away with the big tool box, if he's caught, he'll still face charges.

“Hopefully we can get this guy in custody, because we believe he's done several of these at this particular store, and he's just waiting to be caught,” says Keller.

If you recognize the suspect, give state police at the Lysander barracks a call at 638-8200.

Update: Sheriff's Deputies in Tompkins Co. have released new photos of the suspects attempting to steal golf clubs from a store in Ithaca. Click on the slideshow link to see all the photos.

Aurelius (WSYR-TV) - Sheriff's Deputies are asking for the public’s help as they search for two suspects believed to have stolen golf clubs from the Dicks Sporting Goods stores in Ithaca and Aurelius.

The first theft happened around 2pm on Thursday, April 16th. Investigators say two suspects entered the store; the second suspect put several high priced golf clubs down the leg of his pants, and walked out of the store with the clubs.

Sheriff’s Deputies say just before the store closed on April 24th, the suspects walked in and began moving clubs around, but didn’t steal anything.

Investigators say the stolen clubs were Callaway FTI Bird clubs valued at $1,500.

Sheriff's Deputies in Tompkins Co. are also investigating their own case now involving the same two men. One of the suspects is wearing a brown/tan t-shirt and the other is wearing a brown jacket. Police say surveillance video shows one of the men stuffing golf clubs down their pants.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Cayuga County Sheriff's detectives at 253-1610.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – It happened right in the middle of the day, in a very crowded department store. The big crowd didn't stop one very brazen thief with quick hands from snatching a wallet from a purse.

He quickly walked away with it, and likely thought he got away with the crime, but Syracuse Police are saying not so fast. Surveillance cameras got a good look at him, and now police are asking for your help tracking him down.

The suspected thief struck at the Macy’s store in the Carousel Center several weeks ago.

The wallet was in a purse behind a Macy's store counter. The victim was a Macy's store employee working an afternoon shift.  She told police she witnessed the theft, and told some of the other store employees she was going to go after him.

The employee got scared, and the suspect made off with her wallet.

According to police, he used the victim’s credit card on the other side of the mall, at the Sports Authority store. Police say he purchased more than $160 worth of merchandise, and surveillance cameras were rolling, capturing his purchases.

Syracuse police are hoping you can now tell them who the man is. If you have any information, give detectives a call at 442-5222.

Liverpool (WSYR-TV) - The hunt is on for a man accused of stealing thousands of dollars from his Liverpool employer.  The Fugitive Task Force could use some help in their search, so we're once again, we’re putting you on the case, by making Berlin Bautista the Fugitive of the Week.

As a transportation dispatch clerk for Dot Foods in Liverpool, the 31-year old Bautista kept track of the travels and expenses of truck drivers. It's the way he dealt with their expenses that put Bautista on the radar of the company and police.

According to investigators, Bautista would pad the expense accounts of truck drivers, make duplicate expense account cards, head to an ATM machine to withdraw money and put the money into his own bank account.

Bautista is accused of making over $20 thousand in profits over a four month time period. Sgt. Robert Conley, with the Fugitive Task Force says, “He tried to pin the blame on truck drivers who had the cards issued to them, when the money was going into his own account.”

As the investigation heated up, and records were being obtained Bautista took off.

He was living on Syracuse's North Side, and investigators are learning about his ties to New Jersey and Detroit.

The Fugitive Task Force is looking for anyone who has information on Batista's whereabouts, or any history on him. In April, Bautista was living on Highland Street in the city of Syracuse.

If he's caught, Bautista is facing charges of grand larceny and falsifying business records. He’s 5’ 5“ and weighs 150 pounds

If you have any information on where he could be living now, give the Fugitive Task Force a call at 473-7625.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - They didn't steal her car or her jewels. Instead, thieves took something more precious from a Syracuse woman's front porch -- her prized yard ornaments.

It's a bizarre theft that now has police On The Lookout for the statues, worth about $1,000.

Elizabeth Maeweather's love for elephant ornaments first started twenty years ago, when a friend told her they were good luck.

Maeweather says her friend told her “elephants are good luck if their trunks are up, so every time I went somewhere, I just started buying them.”

But Maeweather's luck ran out this past weekend, when her five treasured elephant statues were stolen from her Glenwood Avenue yard Saturday.

Maeweather says one of the statues weighed well over 100 pounds, and it was never moved because she says it was too heavy to move.

That’s led Maeweather to believe the theft job took a lot of time and effort. She thought surely someone must have seen something, but her neighbors -- and even the mailman -- said they saw nothing; the elephants just simply vanished.

“I don't know if it’s because of the recession or what's going on. Somebody needed some money, or somebody's decorating their own yard,” Maeweather says.

She now plans to install a $1,300 security system on her front porch. She says the added cost is worth her peace of mind.

“I don't feel that somebody should dictate, by taking something from me, what I can and can not have outside my house,” says Maeweather.

Elizabeth Maeweather marked her initials underneath the statues. Anyone who spots the initials or knows anything about this robbery is asked to contact Syracuse police at 442-5222.

Camillus, New York (WSYR-TV) - Camillus Police could use your help identifying a man targeted by a Target store camera.

Police say the man made off with a pair of nineteen inch LCD tvs.

The man they want to question in the case is about 5’6”, balding, and at the time of the alleged theft was wearing faded blue jeans and a two-tone jacket.

If you can tell Camillus Police who this man is, give them a call at 487-0102.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - We profile a wanted criminal every week, and ask you to be On The Lookout for them.  But this is a first for us.

When the local Fugitive Task Force had to search for Kelly Murphy for a third time, they made the Kentucky fugitive the Fugitive of the Week, and asked our viewers to call in tips on his whereabouts. 

But we were the ones to get the call -- from Kelly Murphy himself.

“Me, making the weekly news, the way I did, I think it was overkill,” Murphy told NewsChannel 9.

Kelly disputes claims by Boone County Sheriff's deputies that he was part of a small ring that bounced 18 checks for over $8,000 within 35 days.

He admits he bounced one check, and he says he's far from being any kind of a con man.

After the local task force arrested Murphy on his Kentucky warrant, and a local judge let him go, Kentucky issued a governor's warrant, meaning if he was arrested again, police would have no choice but to detain him until Kentucky authorities got there.
 
“If you were to look at my record, it is not 15 pages long, I am not a career criminal. He was fair and just in letting me go and handle this from Kentucky, and do this,” Murphy says.

Murphy tells NewsChannel 9 that the problem in Kentucky will “all be taken care of by the end of this week.”

He says he’ll turn himself in to police on Friday.

We're in contact with Boone County Sheriff's deputies, and we'll let you know Friday whether Murphy keeps his word and turns himself in.