‘It’s mean-spirited’: Woman caught on camera repeatedly stealing donation bags from charity

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV/Gray News) - A video circulating online is gaining national attention, reportedly showing a woman repeatedly taking donation bags from the Northland Clothing Center.

The nonprofit’s director said the video has been viewed nearly 2 million times and shared more than 1,000 times, which has led to a tip that identified the woman in question.

The Northland Clothing Center has provided clothing to people in need since 1959 and operates out of a building where donors sometimes leave bags outside of business hours.

But surveillance cameras have captured the same woman taking full, unopened bags of donations on multiple occasions, dating back to January this year, the nonprofit said.

The organization posted the most recent surveillance footage to Facebook on July 19 in an effort to identify the woman.

On Monday, a direct message arrived from someone in retail who said they had previously reported the woman for theft and provided her name.

That information, along with the surveillance videos, has been turned over to police.

“Our goal is not to throw somebody in jail,” the nonprofit’s executive director, Marjie Siegfried-Stuber, said. “Our goal is to make the behavior stop. And if that’s all it takes — being told that we know who you are, we know what you’re doing — if it continues, then we will pursue it legally.”

Siegfried-Stuber said the woman seen in the videos is not the only person caught taking items from the organization, but she is the one recorded most regularly — two or three times a month.

Siegfried-Stuber said the organization carefully sorts donated items so clients can find clothing suited to their needs, and that the woman could have come in during regular hours to receive help.

“If she has need, she could be coming to us for clothes that fit, that work for her situation with whatever community activities or job needs she has,” Siegfried-Stuber said. “She could be getting clothing that works for her family.”

According to Siegfried-Stuber, the issue extends beyond her organization. She said any nonprofit that accepts in-kind donations and allows drop-offs when staff is not present risks having items stolen, vandalized, or damaged.

“I really want to stress that this is not just our problem,” she said. “This happens all over Kansas City. Every one of us experiences this, and it’s frustrating to all of us who are here to serve our community. And when people take advantage of other people’s generosity, it’s not just wrong. It’s mean-spirited.”

The Northland Clothing Center is asking donors not to leave items outside of posted donation hours. The organization accepts donations on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and the first Saturday of each month from 9 to 11:30 a.m.