These shocking crimes were caught on camera! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most brazen criminal acts that were documented, in real-time, on surveillance cameras.
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00:00 On Sunday, those cameras caught crooks in the act.
00:03 - Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be looking
00:05 at the most brazen criminal acts that were documented
00:07 in real time on surveillance cameras.
00:09 - After talking with police about a missing girl in the area,
00:12 car wash owner Mike Evanoff looks at tape
00:15 from his surveillance camera.
00:17 - A foiled bank robbery.
00:20 In April 2016, two would-be robbers paid a visit
00:22 to a Banco do Brasil branch in Praia Grande, Brazil.
00:26 Their choice of disguise was far from ordinary.
00:28 Instead of the typical balaclava
00:30 with eye and mouth cutoffs, these suspects opted
00:32 for shiny head-to-toe foil suits.
00:35 - Police in the city of Santa Catarina say the suspects
00:37 were most likely trying to move around the bank undetected
00:42 by its alarm system.
00:43 - The intention behind these outfits was to outsmart
00:45 the bank's alarm system,
00:46 which surprisingly didn't detect them.
00:48 However, their metallic cloaks failed to grant them
00:50 invisibility as the bank surveillance cameras
00:52 recorded their every move.
00:53 - Police officers rushed to the bank
00:55 when the robbers were seen through a CCTV monitoring system.
00:59 - Security staff noticed the criminals on the tape
01:01 and swiftly called the authorities.
01:02 Although the two managed to escape before police arrived,
01:05 their efforts to break the bank safe
01:07 appeared to have been in vain.
01:08 - Police say they left empty-handed.
01:11 - Abduction of Carlicia Freeland Gaither.
01:13 On a quiet Sunday night in November 2014,
01:16 Carlicia Freeland Gaither was walking down
01:18 a nearly desolate Philadelphia street
01:20 when she was suddenly grabbed by Delvin Barnes.
01:22 - 22-year-old Carlicia Freeland Gaither survived
01:25 this vicious abduction and nearly 72 hours with her captor.
01:29 - Security cameras had recorded Barnes' car
01:31 pulling up just moments before the kidnapping.
01:33 In the harrowing footage, Freeland Gaither puts up a fight
01:36 as she screams, kicks, and even smashes the car windows
01:39 in a desperate bid to escape.
01:40 Despite her efforts, she's ultimately forced in
01:43 and driven away.
01:43 - The nursing assistant was just blocks from home
01:46 when she was snatched Sunday night in North Philadelphia.
01:49 - Fortunately, this story has a happy ending.
01:51 Thanks to tips from the public,
01:52 authorities identified Barnes and tracked his car
01:55 to Maryland.
01:55 - Federal authorities tracked him
01:57 to this strip mall in Jessup, Maryland.
01:59 ATF agents spotted them together inside his Ford Taurus
02:03 and moved in.
02:03 - Three days after her abduction off the street,
02:05 Freeland Gaither was rescued by police
02:07 and Barnes was arrested at the scene.
02:10 Kidnapping of Carly Bruscia.
02:12 This surveillance footage recorded at a car wash
02:14 in Sarasota, Florida, shows a girl being approached
02:16 by a man who then takes her by the arm and leads her away.
02:19 Tragically, this was the last time she was seen alive.
02:22 - Carly Bruscia vanished February 1st, 2004,
02:26 never making it home from a sleepover at a friend's house.
02:28 - The girl in question, Carly Bruscia,
02:30 had been walking home on February 1st, 2004
02:33 when Joseph P. Smith, captured on camera,
02:35 abducted her and ultimately ended her life.
02:37 The widely televised security tape prompted calls
02:40 from the public, which identified the abductor.
02:42 - Shown on local and national television,
02:44 the video brings hundreds of leads.
02:46 Surely someone would recognize the man on the grainy tape.
02:50 And they do.
02:51 - Smith was already in police custody
02:53 for probation violations when he confessed to the crime
02:56 and led police to her body.
02:57 He was subsequently convicted of first degree murder
02:59 and later passed away while awaiting execution.
03:02 - The attorney general notified state attorney,
03:04 Ed Brodsky, that Joseph Smith died.
03:06 His office says the cause of death is unknown.
03:08 - Florida student beats up teacher.
03:10 A student at the Matanzas High School
03:12 in Palm Coast, Florida, took matters into his own hands
03:15 after his teacher confiscated his Nintendo Switch video game.
03:18 - Deputies say that when the teacher's aide
03:20 took away his Nintendo Switch,
03:21 he literally sent her flying through the air.
03:24 - As the staffer walked out onto the common area,
03:27 the boy ran after her, launching her into the air
03:29 and knocking her unconscious.
03:30 He then proceeded to physically assault her
03:32 before a group of school employees managed to subdue him.
03:35 - Unfortunately, other students and other faculty members,
03:40 administrators came and intervened.
03:43 - Surveillance of the shocking incident,
03:44 which occurred on February 21st, 2023,
03:47 made its way to the public and was widely circulated.
03:49 - This could have been a homicide.
03:52 When you push people down like that, they hit their head.
03:55 You never know the outcome.
03:58 - Initially, the student was arraigned in juvenile court
04:00 due to his age, but he was later transferred
04:02 to the adult system, facing a possible 30-year sentence
04:05 for aggravated battery.
04:07 Abduction of Leo Norvell.
04:09 On November 12th, 2021, an amber alert was issued
04:12 in the state of California after the abduction
04:14 of Leo Norvell by a man named Joshua Yago.
04:17 Yago had reportedly carried out a shooting
04:19 in the Sacramento area, resulting in minor injuries
04:21 to a man and a woman.
04:22 Subsequently, he chased after the woman
04:24 and forcibly snatched her child, Leo Norvell,
04:27 out of her arms.
04:28 The distressing incident played out in full view
04:30 of a home security camera.
04:32 Fortunately, a couple of hours
04:33 after the amber alert was issued,
04:35 the boy was found with the suspect unharmed.
04:37 Yago was swiftly arrested by police
04:39 and faced charges related to both the kidnapping
04:41 and shooting.
04:42 - He would be caught hours later.
04:44 - An unprovoked attack on the Miami Metro.
04:46 September 4th, 2020 is a date
04:48 that'll probably be forever etched
04:49 in the memory of Andrea Puerta.
04:51 - My life changed completely.
04:54 - While riding the Miami Metro,
04:56 Puerta endured a horrifying attack by a man
04:59 whom she had never seen before.
05:00 The onslaught was random and unprovoked
05:02 and left Puerta unconscious,
05:03 with a concussion, broken rib, and severe bruising.
05:06 Despite initially losing consciousness,
05:08 Puerta summoned the strength to get off the train
05:10 and call the police.
05:11 - Andrea no longer uses public transportation,
05:14 no longer goes out at night.
05:16 Every day I cry, but I need to be strong.
05:18 - Her attacker, Joshua James King,
05:20 reportedly assaulted two other people
05:22 that same day before he was apprehended
05:24 and charged with three counts of aggravated battery.
05:27 Watching this ordeal is harrowing enough
05:29 and one can only imagine how agonizing
05:31 it must have been to experience it.
05:33 - I want that everybody know his face
05:35 and I want that my eyes be shiny again.
05:39 - Brazen thief breaks into cars.
05:41 Robert is Here is a popular fruit stand
05:43 in Homestead, Florida that attracts hundreds
05:45 of tourists and locals every day.
05:47 - I work really hard and I want my family
05:49 to work really hard and still have fun.
05:52 My aim is to be the best farm market ever on the planet
05:57 and I'm not far from it.
05:58 - Over the years, Robert Molling,
06:00 the owner of the facility, has seen his fair share
06:02 of great and not so great patrons.
06:04 In a bid to enhance security,
06:05 Molling installed surveillance cameras on the premises.
06:08 - Fed up with the crime, Robert and his staff
06:10 invested in a security system
06:11 with cameras all over the property.
06:13 - In May of 2018, these cameras recorded a man
06:16 breaking into customers' cars in broad daylight
06:19 and stealing their valuables.
06:20 The suspect appeared to have an accomplice
06:22 who drove him to and from the scene of the crime.
06:24 - You can see a red Dodge Caravan
06:26 making its way around the storefront.
06:28 At times, a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt gets out
06:30 and can be seen looking into cars and checking door handles.
06:34 - Although the footage was released to the public,
06:35 it remains uncertain if law enforcement
06:37 managed to identify the culprits.
06:39 Abduction of James Bolger.
06:41 At first glance, it may look like two brothers
06:43 taking a casual stroll in the mall,
06:45 but this grainy footage from February 12th, 1993
06:48 actually depicts a crime.
06:49 - All the shopping precinct is covered by CCTV.
06:53 And I think some of the iconic pictures
06:55 were of Thompson and Venables
06:57 holding James' hand, walking away.
06:59 - The toddler is James Bolger,
07:01 who was at a shopping center in Goodall, England,
07:03 with his mother when he was abducted by two preteen boys.
07:06 Robert Thompson and John Venables
07:08 can be seen in the footage leading Bolger out of the mall
07:10 with Thompson holding his hand.
07:12 - Clearly you could see James hand in hand
07:15 with two other boys being led away.
07:19 - Subsequently, they took him on a long walk
07:21 to Walton, Liverpool, where they subjected him
07:23 to horrible treatment and left him for dead.
07:25 November that year, they were found guilty
07:27 of killing Bolger, becoming the youngest convicted murderers
07:30 in modern British history.
07:31 - I remember the judge at the end of it,
07:33 he said, "You will both serve very, very many years in prison."
07:37 And I was pleased that outcome.
07:41 - A toxic Florida man.
07:42 For one Florida household,
07:44 a series of minor neighborly disputes
07:45 quickly transformed into a conflict
07:47 with potentially lethal consequences.
07:49 When Umar Abdullah and his family
07:51 began noticing an unusual odor in their home,
07:53 they installed a private security camera
07:55 to help find an explanation.
07:56 - Umar Abdullah says it's very difficult
07:58 to talk about the last few months.
08:00 He says it started with complaints
08:02 from a downstairs neighbor over noise.
08:04 - Video evidence revealed that their neighbor, Zooming Lee,
08:06 had been administering dangerous chemicals
08:08 through the doorway.
08:09 - We installed a hidden camera outside
08:11 because we were suspecting someone
08:12 is basically tampering our place from outside.
08:15 And then we caught our neighbor
08:17 injecting something through our door.
08:19 - The chilling footage was enough to have Lee arrested
08:21 on controlled substance possession and battery charges.
08:24 But it more importantly may have saved this family's life.
08:26 Lee, a chemistry student at the University of South Florida
08:29 has been removed from his PhD program
08:31 and awaits legal consequences.
08:33 - Lee was arrested and charged with multiple counts,
08:35 including possession of a controlled substance
08:37 and aggravated stalking.
08:38 - Regardless of the outcome,
08:40 this unsettling story of DIY surveillance
08:42 is one the Abdullahs are unlikely to forget.
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08:59 Murder of Mary Kay Wolfarth.
09:02 With the disturbing case of Mary Kay Wolfarth,
09:04 a routine Ohio storage unit
09:06 became the setting of a grisly murder.
09:07 Wolfarth's body was discovered in the facility
09:09 shortly after her disappearance
09:11 and the surveillance footage helped lead authorities
09:13 to the perpetrator.
09:14 The camera recorded Michael Olson
09:16 and a casual acquaintance of Wolfarth,
09:18 apparently stalking his victim
09:19 while she organized her personal depot.
09:21 - Wolfarth's body discovered in a storage unit in Akron,
09:24 rented by Olson.
09:25 - Though her life was not taken on camera,
09:27 the videotape provided evidence
09:28 that helped find and prosecute Olson.
09:30 - There was substantial evidence in this case
09:32 that this was a premeditated murder.
09:36 There is video that showed him stalking her
09:40 right before the murder happened.
09:43 - After a harrowing guilty plea,
09:44 Olson received a life sentence with no potential for parole.
09:47 When you consider the tragic outcome
09:49 to such a devastating circumstance,
09:51 re-watching this video evidence retrospectively
09:53 feels even more horrifying.
09:55 Which of these horrifying crimes left your jaw on the floor?
09:58 Let us know in the comments.
09:59 - This new video of a pharmacy on Piedmont Avenue
10:02 being ransacked.
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