And it wasn’t just any belt, the Jersey Journal reports: It was a Louis Vuitton belt worth $1,500, the 28-year-old owner of the high-end accessory told airport police.
When the traveler took off the fancy belt so he could walk through the metal detectors at Terminal C around 8 p.m., the belt wasn’t there to meet him on the other side of the security checkpoint. The man then let airport officials know about the disappearing article of clothing, the New York Daily News reports.
That led Port Authority police to review surveillance camera footage — and the footage revealed the thief, the Daily News reports. It was Osmal Reyes, 43, of Newark, N.J., who was working as a cleaner at the airport, police said.
First, police checked the trash compactor to see if the belt had ended up there, the New York Post reports. But the belt was nowhere to be found.
“Further investigation led police to the suspect’s work trolley, which contained the purloined belt, rolled up in a side pocket on the trolley,” a Port Authority police spokesman told the Daily News.
Once it was found, the traveler got his belt back, police said.
Reyes wasn’t so lucky: He got arrested and charged with theft by unlawful taking, the Bergen County Record reports.