Police: Purse Snatching Suspect Also Stole Car With Baby Inside
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DANIA BEACH (CBSMiami) -- Police believe they've gotten a two-for-one after arresting a man in Oakland Park accused of several violent crimes.
Frederick Wayne Mordon, 35, is accused of a two-day crime spree that included first taking a woman's purse in the middle of a busy Dania Beach gas station, as well as stealing a car with a baby still in the back seat.
On Friday, Sept. 23rd, surveillance video at the Mobil gas station on Stirling Road and S.W. 40th Avenue captured the brazen purse snatching.
Police said Mordon is the man in the video seen pulling up to a pump, waiting for the right moment, and grabbing a woman's purse from the front seat of her car. Despite her best efforts to stop the guy, including jumping onto the hood of his car, the thief was able to get away.
The very next day, Broward authorities issued an Amber Alert for a 2-month-old child taken in a car theft. The baby's mother told police she had pulled up to a North Lauderdale plaza with her two children and stepped out of her car for only a moment, when a man quickly hopped in the driver's seat and took off. The woman's 10-year-old daughter was able to escape in time, but not without her baby brother.
The car was later found abandoned with the engine running on the side of the road at State Road 7 and Prospect Road. The infant child was found unharmed in the back seat.
Broward Sheriff's deputies linked Mordon to both incidents and arrested him Thursday. They say he's used variations of his name as aliases in the past, including: Frederic Mordon Wayne, Fredic Wayne Mordon, Federic Mordon Wayne, Fredric Wayne Mordon, and Frederic Wayne Mordon, Jr. He previously spent time in prison for home burglary, grand theft and reckless driving.
Mordon faces several current charges including strong-arm robbery, kidnapping, child neglect, burglary and grand theft auto.