All’s well that ends well: Stolen purse of mom of KU’s Devon Dotson has been returned
The purse of Angie Dotson, the mother of Kansas sophomore point guard Devon Dotson, was ripped off the back of a chair — stolen from the Bird Dog Bar in the The Oread Hotel on Oct. 5 — the night after KU’s annual Late Night in the Phog.
The Dotsons — who were not going to relinquish the purse forever without a fight — are happy to report that this saga has a storybook ending.
In what appears to be a response to a series of Twitter posts from Angie, Devon and Devon’s dad, Dana — the three each asked the thieves to return the purse no questions asked — the purse was indeed returned to the hotel on Oct. 10.
It was shipped by hotel general manager Nancy Longhurst to the Dotson’s Carolina home the next day and arrived in the mail a few days later with nothing missing from the purse.
“It shows the power of social media and networking and community for sure. Everyone uses social media for marketing, good or bad. If we had said nothing, I don’t think it would have been returned,” Angie Dotson said.
Though the bar’s security camera didn’t pick up any activity — it turned out the hard drive on the camera was full — witnesses said a pair of college-aged women were the ones to pull off the heist when Angie stepped away from her chair just a minute.
“Gosh yes, I was very devastated. It all happened so fast,” Angie said in a phone conversation with The Star. “I had to fly out to Texas (for a planned trip with friends) the next day. Not having ID and credit cards … that was very disappointing.”
Four days later, as Angie completed her trip to Texas and returned to the family’s house in Charlotte, North Carolina, there had been no developments in the case.
“The purse is still gone,” Devon Dotson told The Star at KU’s basketball Media Day on Oct. 9 at Allen Fieldhouse. “We are on the lookout, trying to see where it might be. My mom is still kind of upset about it. We’re trying to see what’s going on.”
Ask KU fans on Twitter and you will receive … the purse was dropped off back at the hotel.
“I went to the front desk to check on something (morning of Oct. 10). One of my restaurant managers had this really surprised look on her face. I said, ‘What’s going on?’’’ Longhurst told The Star.
“I was told this girl came flying into the hotel, handed over the purse that was missing. She was shaking. She said, ‘I found this in my house. I wanted to return it.’ She said she didn’t know where it came from. She handed the purse so fast (to Oread employee) and was out the door.”
There was no attempt to try to apprehend the person who returned the purse.
“Dana had said on Twitter, ‘No questions asked,’’’ Longhurst said. “My opinion is it’s over. We’re just pleased whoever had it returned it and they (Dotsons) are too.”
Indeed, Dana Dotson says he and his wife have no desire to learn the identity of the thief or thieves and are not planning on pursuing charges.
“Considering where we were that night … everybody felt terrible. To get it back, it makes my wife feel a lot better,” Dana Dotson said.
“I’m not going to pursue it. They didn’t use any of the credit cards. We canceled them immediately. Nobody hurried up and charged anything.”
Noted Angie: “I owe (Lawrence police) a phone call, but I think it’s over.”
She surmised that, “the community helped with the tweets and everything. I believe that (social media posts) led to somebody either having some remorse or at least seeing it and returning it.”
“It was uncomfortable for a couple days but definitely a happy ending,” Angie stated.
Dotson back at practice
KU coach Bill Self said Sunday night that Dotson, who missed Thursday’s exhibition opener against Fort Hays State because of an ankle sprain, returned to practice over the weekend.
“He is full go,” Self said.
Senior guard Isaiah Moss, who also missed the exhibition game, did not practice over the weekend because of a hamstring issue.
Self said he did not know if Moss would be able to play in Thursday’s exhibition against Pittsburg State. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
This story was originally published October 28, 2019 at 1:41 PM with the headline "All’s well that ends well: Stolen purse of mom of KU’s Devon Dotson has been returned."
