A convicted thief is facing new accusations of swiping wallets from women who were working in model homes, Local 2 Investigates reported Thursday.

Lakeshia Thomas Champ, 36, of Bonnyton Lane in Houston, has been charged with two felony counts of credit card abuse for the crimes.

She's accused of posing as an interested customer as she walked into model homes and then grabbed wallets when the sales workers were distracted.

In the first crime, Champ is walked into the Brighton Homes model house in the new Summerwood subdivision off the North Sam Houston Parkway and West Lake Houston Parkway in northeast Harris County, investigators said.

The Houston Police report spells out that Champ filled out a visitor information card on Sept. 24, using phony information about herself.  She's accused of chatting for five minutes with the woman who was working in the home, and when that worker left to show another house to another customer, she's accused of grabbing the worker's wallet from her purse.

Police said the worker came back and found the suspicious customer and her wallet gone.  When the victim called her bank to cancel her credit cards, she found out the woman had already used the cards to make purchases at a nearby Walmart on the North Sam Houston Parkway.

A co-worker said, "She was really shaken up about it."

Several months later in November, detectives said Champ walked into another Brighton Homes subdivision known as "Waters Edge."

Harris County sheriff's deputies said the saleswoman offered to get her a drink, but after a few moments had passed, Champ suddenly showed up in the kitchen with her and seemed anxious to leave.

That worker became suspicious and walked outside to write down the license tag number as Champ was driving away.

She noticed her wallet missing from her purse, and when she called to cancel her credit cards, her bank told her the card was used a short time after the theft for a $32 purchase at a liquor store.

The victim in that case declined to speak to a reporter at the model home Thursday.

Investigators said surveillance cameras captured Champ's purchases with those stolen credit cards at the Walmart and the liquor store.   Both victims then picked Champ from a police photo lineup and the felony charges were filed.

HPD and Harris County sheriff's investigators have not released the surveillance photos, which were requested by Local 2 Investigates.

Harris County District Clerk records show Champ has posted a $5,000 bail after being booked on the charges.  She's set to appear in the 351st Harris County District Court on March 6.

Champ has a significant criminal record, including some similar crimes.   Harris County court records show these convictions:

• April 1996: guilty plea to theft under $500; sentenced to four days in jail

• November 2001: guilty plea to theft under $500; sentenced to six days in jail

• March 2009: guilty plea to felony credit card abuse; despite her record, she was sentenced to probation, which she completed before these latest charges

• She also served four days in jail for verbal harassment from May 1995.

Workers in the new subdivisions that were targeted said model home employees are constantly keeping tabs of their purses and locking up valuables to guard against theft when they're distracted or showing other houses.

Those workers said they have heard of other similar thefts throughout the newly developed neighborhoods in northeast Harris County, but they were unsure whether there was any connection to these crimes.