I think I also encountered the Steal issue (I did apply the recent November patch, as well as all others) during the Turks fight in the tunnel. Had a party of Tifa/Cloud/Aerith, all 69 at the time of that fight, and I was able to steal (Mug, rather) from Rude and Reno okay enough, but Elena I just was not able to nab anything from her. I reloaded the fight a few times just chalking it up to bad rolls at first, but I just kind of let it go after the fifth round. Did she have a Minerva Bangle? Because I got an Escort Guard from Rude and a Touph Ring from Reno like he does in vanilla.
The rate is low, but it's definitely possible. Keep trying.
What I've done here is revised the item lists for Crater enemies. The drop rate on Weapon A is higher, and Weapon B is acquired through Morphing (still planning an AI solution for this); each enemy has a 100% steal that is NOT one of the weapons, just an item (X-Potion for instance).
I'm concerned about the Dragon Armlet, Minerva Band, and Escort Guard being Rare Steals, and if I equip the Sneak Glove I have basically no chance at all. Is that what this hotfix will alleviate?
Also, is there any way to force the Parasites to use Lv5 Death? Since all my party members are 99, there's pretty much nothing I can do because Manipulate doesn't give it as an option and they don't seem to use it naturally if nobody has a level divisible by 5.