Dr. Celeste Medynskyj left work Thursday and went grocery shopping in Schaumburg. But what happened next was anything but routine.
“I noticed two men kind of lurking by me in the grocery store," she told NBC 5. “I went back to my purse and I noticed that my wallet was missing.”
She then went back to her car, just to be sure she didn't leave it there. While she looked, she kept an eye on the door and spotted the man she noticed in the store.
“My wallet wasn’t there and so I thought, oh that guy stole my wallet," she recalled.
As the man walked away, “I yelled out, hey excuse me," Medynskyj said.
She says he took off running and so did she.
“He’s dodging cars and I’m dodging cars,” she said, "A car pulled over and a man was like, ma’am are you OK? Is everything OK? And I’m like 'that man stole my wallet!' And immediately this man took off and sped after the guy."
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Another couple did the same. Medynskyj tried to keep up in her heels. When she finally did catch up, she found out something that stunned her. The first man that offered to help her, “he had actually like tackled the guy,” she said.
The police were there and arrested Elkin Castillo. Authorities told Medynskyj he was on parole.
He's being held on a $100,000 bond. Now, Medynskyj wants to find the good Samaritans who helped her.
“I’m just astounded," she said. "They didn’t even know me and they were willing to help me and actually physically accost this guy, I just could not believe that someone would do that for me.”
She hopes they contact her at her office at Bloomingdale Dental.
She wants to give them a reward.
“I’m a dentist so I’d like to offer them some free dental services, it's the least I can do for their bravery and courageousness," she said.
She hopes she finds them and can help the smiles on their faces.
