A Florida woman has been charged after allegedly drugging a man she met at a club and stealing his Rolex, valued at nearly $100,000, from his home in Hallandale Beach.
Lynda Mae Crouse, 32, was arrested on Friday, September 11, in connection with the alleged theft and charged with second-degree grand theft, according to court records. She was later released on a $2,500 bond.
The case began after the man met Crouse at the Carousel Club, an events venue at Gulfstream Park, shortly before midnight on April 12. They exchanged Instagram details before going their separate ways, but he later arranged an Uber to collect her from her home at about 1.20am.
Once at his residence, the pair had several alcoholic drinks. The man told investigators that he began to feel “funny” and “extremely tired” while changing clothes in his bedroom.
He said he then heard a distinctive clapping sound from the living room. When he returned, Crouse was behaving differently and suddenly said she was leaving.
The man fell asleep within minutes of her departure and woke several hours later still feeling unwell. He told police he remembered the sound and went to check the box containing his watch.
His gold 40mm Rolex Presidential, featuring diamond hour markers and a diamond-covered bezel, was missing. A signed appraisal placed its value at $98,400, although the watch’s retail price was reported as $74,350.
Investigators said the man believed the noise he heard had been the lid of the Rolex box closing. He later identified Crouse from a photographic line-up.
Police said the Hallandale Beach investigation uncovered four other Miami-Dade cases involving a similar alleged pattern. In those incidents, men were said to have met Crouse at bars or nightclubs, taken her to their homes or a hotel and later discovered that valuable watches or other property had disappeared.
The cases are being investigated by police in Miami, Miami Beach and Aventura. In one Miami case, toxicology testing allegedly detected zolpidem, a prescription sleeping medicine, in a victim’s system.
Authorities have not said that Crouse has been charged in those other cases. The allegations relating to the Hallandale Beach incident have not been tested in court, and it was not immediately clear whether she had legal representation.
