Library Thief is a Crip: Cops

A woman who police say is a member of a New York street gang has been arrested in connection with a a brazen library theft in New Hartford.

New York City police arrested Dashia Bennett, 23, on Sept. 1 in Brooklyn, N.Y., with some help from police officers from Middlebury, West Hartford, Greenwich, Connecticut State Police and West Springfield, Mass., the Waterbury Republican-American reports. 

Those departments are all investigating Bennett and another woman for similar robberies in libraries.

Bennett, who is from Brooklyn, N.Y. is one of two suspects accused of stealing a credit card from an employee of the Bakerville Public Library in New Hartford on Aug. 5. 

During that robbery, one woman approached a librarian as if she were asking about a book. The other woman went to a room containing library employees' purses and stole credit cards, New Hartford police said.

The women are accused of charging more than $1,600 on the stolen card.

Bennett is a member of the Crips street gang and has a violent history, police told the Republican-American.

Authorities from several Connecticut towns are actively working on the case and say they hope to make more arrests soon.

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