Lost the plot: Russian thief steals theater tickets, gets nabbed after taking wife to show

A Russian thief who made off with a woman’s wallet was pleased to find theater tickets inside. But rather than passing on the show, the high-brow low life lost the plot by deciding to take his wife to the theater, earning him a one way ticket to jail.

The heinous heist happened on streetcar No. 20 in the southern Russian city of Samara on September 25. The victim, an unidentified woman, looked down at her purse, only to discover that the clasps had clandestinely been undone.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that her wallet was gone, along with a couple of theater tickets she had tucked away inside.

Thinking back to the culprit who’d taken her for a ride, the woman remembered a 40-something man who had been lurking about in quite a suspicious manner. Deciding to chalk her losses up to bad luck, however, she decided not to go to the police.

But while the thief could have gotten off scot free with his five finger discount, the theater loving larcenist was soon to be rewarded with a bit of poetic justice.

Five days after the theft, the woman and her husband turned up at the theater, remembering the seat and row numbers written on her tickets. Convincing the theater administrators of the bad luck that had befallen them, she and her husband were allowed to take their seats.

But just minutes before the spectacle was set to start, a man and his wife approached the pair, demanding that they vacate the seats immediately.

The woman immediately recognized the boorish man as that same suspicious character who was hanging about on the streetcar the day her wallet was stolen.

The woman and her husband quietly exited stage left and immediately called the cops. After the police came and picked up the man, they quickly discovered that he had a criminal record and had only been released from prison three months prior.

Finding enough evidence to pursue a criminal investigation, the suspect was taken into custody.

Police are currently looking into any other crimes the ex-con might have committed before his witless bid to steal the show.