A group of six people dressed as female gypsies shimmied into an Allegany County Wal-Mart yesterday evening and danced out having stolen $150,420 in cash, store and police officials said last night.

"They were speaking foreign languages, they had dark skin," said the store manager, Susan Simpson. "They looked exactly like you would imagine a gypsy would look."

State Trooper First Class J. Barber of the Cumberland barracks said the "gypsies" created a diversion, causing the store's cash office to be left unattended while the cash was taken. Police said the group remained at large last night.

"The employees started following these people around, worried that they were going to steal something," Trooper Barber said. "And before they knew it, someone had pried open the door to the cash office."

The thieves appeared to have picked the perfect time to strike the Wal-Mart on Winchester Road in LaVale, Trooper Barber said -- at the time of a shift change, and when there was an unusually large amount of money in the store because no cash pickups were scheduled until today.

Ms. Simpson said she would have no further comment until consulting with a Wal-Mart attorney, who was expected at the store late last night.

Trooper Barber said he was investigating the possibility that the robbery could be connected to a similar theft at a Superfresh Store in Hancock yesterday.