VIDEO: Video assists in Siesta Village arrest

Sarasota County deputies arrested a West Palm Beach man who was allegedly caught on tape stealing a woman’s purse from the Beach Club Tuesday morning.

Surveillance video shows 28-year-old Keith Hernandez wait for a woman to go to the restroom, then shove her purse down the front of his pants before exiting the Siesta Key Village bar. A Beach Club employee confronted Hernandez when he returned to the bar, and he fled the establishment again.

Security staff detained Hernandez until deputies arrived, after which he claimed $400 in cash and an iPhone 4 found in his pockets belonged to him. When authorities turned on the phone, it displayed a picture of the victim and her family. Hernandez then claimed security staff planted the cell phone on him, before changing his story and stating that deputies had put it in his pocket.

The victim found her purse in a nearby trash can, and deputies arrested Hernandez for grand theft.