Suspect steals USB drives filled with treasured photos during Thanksgiving auto theft in Paramount

PARAMOUNT, Calif. (KABC) -- It was a Thanksgiving Day theft so bold, a suspect was caught on multiple cameras red-handed.

Kathy Semaan is a manager of a family-owned gas station. Early Thursday morning, she stopped by the Paramount location.

"(I stopped by) just to see what they needed up front - like from cigarettes to lottery tickets to change. So within the timing that I pulled up, within 45 minutes I went back out and noticed that my back window was shattered. Immediately, I just looked at the camera," she said.

What she found on her surveillance cameras was a customer who she said just bought gas moments before the break-in. She said he then started casing the property and shattered the back window of her truck when no one was looking.

Inside the bags the man had stolen were USB sticks with hundreds of family photos.

"My parents 53rd wedding anniversary event that we had, and most recent after that was my cousin's wedding," she said.

The cameras didn't catch a license plate on the car, or a shot of the accomplice who ended up driving the pair away. But Semaan has a message for the man.

"Sell what you want to sell with what you've got of my stuff, but don't wipe out the memory sticks and use them. Just drop them off," she said.

She's also urging anyone who recognizes the man to contact authorities.