Yoga studios are supposed to be safe places: Thieves strike several studios across D.C.

[IronLionZion]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/yoga-studios-are-supposed-to-be-safe-places-thieves-strike-several-studios-across-dc/2018/04/13/50fb2ad2-3e3e-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html?utm_term=.2a70f5062ac2

In the surveillance video, the three women were dressed the part — with exercise clothes and sneakers — and asked the front desk clerk about classes at the Yoga Heights studio near the District’s Petworth neighborhood.

It seemed like a typical interaction at the time, but according to the video and D.C. police, two of the women distracted the clerk while the other stole $110, gift cards valued at nearly $500 and credit cards from unsecured cubbies in the studio’s lobby.

It’s a scheme much like others that have played out on at least seven occasions over the past three months at yoga studios in Northwest Washington, according to D.C. police reports. No one has been injured in the incidents.

In most cases, one person or a group of people enter a studio and ask about classes or register for a class, often while someone else distracts a front desk clerk and steals valuables from unlocked cubbies.

A group of female thieves in exercise clothing! Sounds like a plot from a movie.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. I'm not sure that yoga studios are supposed to be any safer

than anyplayce else. Plus, of course, if they have valuables worth stealing, then they are targets.

[IronLionZion]

2. I had a girlfriend who refused to lock her stuff up

insisting that no one who goes to a yoga class would steal because they are so spiritual and whatever. Even after her Apple laptop was stolen she still refused to lock her stuff.

I bring my own lock and always lock stuff. Some folks even bring a small bag of stuff in with them to keep an eye on valuables. Shoes are also an option for hiding a wallet and phone.

My mat bag has a pocket on the side where I can keep my wallet and phone if a locker were not available. I would just keep that at my feet.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Oh, my. Talk about naive.