Police: Accused package thief in Brookline caught eating Girl Scout cookies

BROOKLINE, Mass. — A woman accused of stealing packages left a trail of crumbs for investigators: Girl Scout cookie crumbs, to be specific, according to police.

Isabelle Dessources, 34, of Holbrook was arrested and charged with five counts of receiving stolen property, three counts of attempt to commit a crime, two counts of possessing a lost/misplaced credit card, and one count of larceny of property under $1,200.

Brookline Police say they responded to Beacon Street around 8 p.m. Tuesday after receiving reports of a suspicious person inside an unlocked vestibule.

A suspicious Brookline resident had started rolling on his cell phone to gather footage while looking for answers, with his video showing several open packages and a backpack next to Dessources.

Residents say Dessources had been lingering in the area for more than 12 hours before someone finally called in to report her.

When officers arrived, they saw a woman, matching the caller’s description, sitting with three opened packages in her hands, police said.

Dessources claimed that she did not live in the building but that the packages were hers, police said in the arrest report.

Responding officers "checked the labels and confirmed that the items were not hers," police said.

Dessources allegedly told officers the packages were in fact hers because of the “diet she was on," police said.

"Two of the packages she opened contained consumable items such as tea and Girl Scout cookies. When officers located the woman, it appeared that some of the Girl Scout cookie boxes were opened and some of the cookies were missing," police said.

Police said Dessources later admitted to eating the stolen cookies.

“I’ve heard the expression caught with your hands in the cookie jar but this is caught with the cookie in your mouth!" Brookline Police Lieutenant Philip Harrington said.

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She was also found with numerous other stolen items including credit cards, and police said she also took "a straw hat, bathing suit cover up, three bathing suits, Harvard University ID, Ohio State University ID."

“This is something more in in depth," Harrington said. "This person has identifications and credit cards belonging to multiple other victims across the state."

Detectives say the bundle of IDs and credit cards seized in the case were stolen elsewhere from a number of different locations.

Cox Media Group