VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Clark county sheriff's deputies are looking for a thief who they said stole a purse out of a woman's shopping cart on Tuesday at the Wal-Mart on Highway 99.

Heather Todd said she put her purse in a cart and turned around for just a moment to take something off the shelf and that was all the time the thief needed to take her purse and all the money inside.

"I looked around and it was nowhere to be found. It was just that quick," Todd said. "It wasn't but just a minute later when I left the aisle and my daughter mentioned to me, 'Your purse. Where's your purse mommy?"

Todd said she was shopping at a Wal-Mart in Vancouver and didn't think twice about putting her purse in her cart, right next to her 2-year-old daughter.

"The panic set in. That's when your stomach hits the floor," Todd said. "I kind of got that chill. Somebody was that close to my daughter and had to have made eye contact with my daughter."

Wednesday night, Wal-Mart employees found Todd's purse a few aisles away inside a trash can, but the thief had made off with her wallet.

Todd said the thief stole about $100 as well as a few gift cards, but her driver's license and credit cards were all still inside.

"She apparently just needed the money and wanted the money real quick," Todd said. "I'm thinking about downsizing to a smaller purse and keeping it on my shoulder all the time."

Clark County sheriff's deputies said this is the second theft in the past two weeks at the store.

Todd had a warning for others: "Watch everyone. I hate to say it, but you can't trust everybody. You have to be on alert all the time," Todd said.

The thief is described as an older woman in her late 60s, about 5 feet 4 inches tall, wearing glasses with salt-and-pepper gray hair.

Anyone with information about the theft should call the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Thief Steals Purse Out Of Shopping Cart

FOX 12 later took a hidden camera inside the store to see how many women actually left their purses in their carts unattended.

Within the first five minutes in the store about ten women left their purses on the top part of the cart, which Clark County sheriff's deputies said is an easy target for thieves.

Most women kept their bags within their reach. Police said it's essential to keep an extra close eye on your personal belongings during the holiday season because thieves get more brazen this time of year.

Police said some thieves even work as husband-and-wife teams where one distracts the shopper while the other steals the purse.

Some women said they always keep their purses by their side, while others said they don't think twice about leaving their purses in the cart because their hands are usually full.

"I've never had a problem with it. I usually don't have much in it anyway so I don't worry about it," shopper Kelly Pacheco.

Some tips from the Clark County Sheriff's Office:

If you do have to leave your purse in the cart, look for a strap to buckle it down, or put it in a place that's harder for someone to just walk by and take it.

If you need your hands free for shopping, opt for a backpack-style purse.

View Hidden Camera Investigation