By Jim Hannah
Enquirer staff writer

BLUE ASH - Marian Parker was exercising in the YMCA pool here when someone snatched the car keys from her gym bag.

Before Parker got out of the pool, the Sycamore Township resident became at least the 10th woman in Hamilton County this summer to have a wallet taken from a vehicle while working out at a fitness center. And the suspects are three women, two of whom are jailed in Hamilton County and the third, in Columbus.

Investigators say the trio's ruse was to target women who had keyless remotes and had left a purse in the car's trunk or under the seat.

Arrested were:

• Jessica L. Barnes, 27, of Columbus, charged with multiple counts of theft and receiving stolen property.

• Regina Oliver-Wilson, 22, of Columbus, charged with complicity.

• Jolene Dionne Coffman, 27, of Columbus, charged with receiving stolen property and forgery.

With the arrests, a special task force has cleared four thefts in Blue Ash, three or four in Colerain Township and three in Montgomery. They also think that the three are responsible for thefts in wealthy suburbs of Dayton, Columbus and Northern Kentucky.

"It is important to get the word out that this can happen in the nicest of places," said Parker, who just turned 60. "Blue Ash is a nice suburb with a very low crime rate. I never heard of a theft at my YMCA the four years I've belonged."

Patrons of fitness centers across the nation have been targeted in similar schemes. Since June, police have arrested thieves committing similar crimes at fitness centers from Texas to Pennsylvania. Federal prosecutors announced June 2 the indictment of 18 South Philadelphia-based thieves responsible for 100 fitness-center thefts totaling more than $1 million.

It's such a problem that The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, a Boston-based trade group, warned its members recently that the crimes are "one of the newest, most insidious and, potentially, one of the most damaging forms of crimes that clubs have to contend with."

Parker said she thinks she was targeted because she didn't lock her locker - and her keyless remote was inside. The thieves snatched the remote, grabbed Parker's checkbook from her car and locked the remote in her car - further stalling the victim.

"When I couldn't find my keys, I thought I had just locked my keys in my car," she said. "I sat out in front of the YMCA waiting for AAA to come unlock my car."

By the time she reported it to police, thieves ended up writing $2,400 worth of checks on her account.

"Sometimes, the women arrested actually pretended to have lost their keys and had health club members helping them search for them," said Blue Ash Detective J. Graves, who investigated Parker's complaint. "They then went out to the parking lot with the 'lost keys' and committed the crimes."

Columbus Police spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio said that after the thieves stole credit cards, checks and different forms of identification, they would try to take on the identity of their victims. Graves said they even used mobile phones taken from the vehicles to stay in touch with one another.

Parker wants others to be warned.

"I wish someone had said to me, 'Be careful, this is happening in areas you don't expect it,' " she said. "I had grown complacent."

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com