A 32-year-old woman was arrested Friday and charged with grand theft after allegedly drugging a man she met at a casino, then walking off with his nearly $100,000 Rolex while he was unconscious.
Lynda Mae Crouse is accused of running the same scheme on multiple men across Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to arrest records: meet a man out, go home with him, drug him, take his watch.
The Hallandale Beach case that led to her arrest began around midnight on April 12 at the Carousel Club, where Crouse met a man and exchanged contact information with him before they left the club separately. He later sent an Uber to bring her from her home to his place, according to court documents.
The two started drinking. While the man stepped away to change clothes, he began to feel “funny” and “extremely tired,” a probable cause affidavit states. He recalled hearing a clapping sound from his living room and Crouse saying she was leaving — the last thing he remembers before passing out.
When he woke up hours later, he went straight to check his watch box, suspecting the clapping noise had been the lid opening. His suspicion was confirmed: his 40mm diamond Rolex Presidential, valued at $98,400, was gone.
He later picked Crouse out of a photo lineup, according to the affidavit.
Investigators say Crouse has four other open cases in Miami-Dade County involving the same pattern — victims who brought her home, lost consciousness, and woke up to find their expensive watches missing. In one of those cases, a toxicology report found the victim had been drugged with zolpidem, a sleep aid that can cause rapid sedation, confusion and memory loss, particularly when mixed with alcohol, according to NBC Miami.
Crouse was charged with grand theft. Her bond was set at $2,000, which she paid. No attorney was listed for her in court records, and she could not be reached for comment.
