What began with an evening gown taken from a donation bin has morphed into a reminder to help high school students in need.
And of course, because it happened in Palm Beach, there’s another twist — and it involves a man in a dress on Worth Avenue before sunrise.
It isn’t unusual to see the well-dressed walking down Palm Beach’s iconic Worth Avenue. Men in fine linen suits and women in Chanel, Valentino and Pucci are staples of the avenue. The street is lined with luxury retailers, and more often than not, Worth Avenue’s sidewalks are transformed into mini-runways.
Palm Beach Police officers on a recent morning spotted an anomaly: a man wearing an evening gown, standing on a sidewalk in the 100 block of the Avenue.
It was just before 5 a.m. March 29 when two officers saw the 31-year-old New Mexico man wearing a long, tan, beaded gown walking on the south side of the road near The Esplanade, according to an arrest report. Police had seen the man several times over the past 24 hours, when he had been wearing a blue denim long-sleeve shirt and black shorts.
As an officer got out of his car to talk to the man, the officer noticed that the gown still had tags, and the man was carrying a long black garment bag, the arrest report said. The man was arrested on a larceny charge and released April 1 from the Palm Beach County Jail on a $1,000 bond, according to jail records.
The man admitted to police that he took the gown — an Aidan Mattox with a $575 price tag from Saks Fifth Avenue — from a bin outside of a store, according to the arrest report.
It didn’t take long for police to find the bin outside of Aristokids at 309 S. County Road, the report said. Signs on the bin shared its purpose: “Please place your gently used dresses. All dresses will be donated to Prome Towne.”
Jodi Wentley and her husband Rick have owned Aristokids for nearly 40 years, since it opened in 1988. They also own the neighboring P.B. Boys Club and P.B. Girls Club.
Jodi Wentley told the Daily News that she was surprised to find the donation bin still outside of her store when she arrived for work on the morning of March 30. Workers usually bring it inside the store for the night, but had forgotten amid the bustle of closing Aristokids on March 28, she said. The store is closed on Sundays.
The first thing Wentley noticed was that the dress was missing.
Yes, the dress. It was one that she had donated, Wentley said. It belonged to her daughter, who never wore it.
Officers asked Wentley if she wanted them to return the dress to her, but she said she declined.
“The guy had it on,” she said. Officers told Wentley that the dress would be “disposed of.”
Prome Towne provides prom dresses to students in need, she said. This year’s donations are going to Boca Raton-based St. Andrew’s School’s program named “The Perfect Fit at SAS,” which Wentley said was chosen at the request of Olivia Koch, daughter of Palm Beach residents Dana and Jessica Koch. Olivia attends St. Andrew’s.
“All the dresses are donated to girls who can’t buy them,” Wentley said.
Wentley doesn’t plan to press charges against the man. County records show that the case against the man remains active. A spokesperson for the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office said the case is pending, and representatives for the office will review all of the information from Palm Beach Police and speak with Wentley.
Aristokids will accept donations of gently used dresses for Prome Towne through the end of April, Wentley said.
More information about the donation program is available by calling the store at 561-832-3596.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Man in gown took the dress from a donation bin, Palm Beach Police say
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
