Edmonton police investigate yoga studio thefts

It was a quiet Tuesday morning at Shala Ashtanga Yoga Centre in downtown Edmonton until an unexpected visitor stopped by.

“There was a women who came in — a female that we saw on video camera — taking our cashbox and a student’s wallet,” Shala Ashtanga Yoga Centre co-owner Laura Turnbull alleged.

Turnbull said more than $600 was in that cash box.

She said her studio isn’t the only one that has recently been robbed. Witnesses and surveillance video suggest the same woman could be behind many of them.

“It is hitting many of the studios in Edmonton, specifically yoga studios downtown, south side, Sherwood Park even,” Turnbull said.

A yoga student who Global News is not identifying for safety reasons was a victim of theft at another studio in July.

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She was among several people who apparently had their wallets and phones taken while in class, and alleged others even had their cars stolen. She is now dealing with impacts of identity theft.

“Once I got home, I was cancelling credit cards and trying to keep up with the passwords on my online accounts that were being changed. There was cash withdrawn from two of my credits cards,” the victim said.

She said yoga studios are supposed to be a place of trust, which can also make them easy targets, leaving her and many others shaken.

“Yoga is supposed to be a place where you can go to collect yourself, and now that one thing that I had to go and do that has been temporarily taken from me,” the victim said.

Police said a suspect was arrested and charged in connection to a separate yoga studio theft in July, but was released with conditions.

This latest robbery is now being investigated.

The incident is also disrupting Shala Ashtanga Yoga Centre.

“We’re going to have to get more secure doors and we’re just going to have urge people to bring their stuff into the studio,” Turnbull said.

A growing number of people in yoga community say with the information known of the thefts, more needs to be done before matters get worse.