Police: Purse Snatcher Targeting Elderly Women In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are looking for a suspected purse snatcher who they say has been targeting elderly women in the Bronx.
Investigators say he finds his victims walking alone, grabbing their purses forcefully and running off with whatever they have.
It happened to 92-year-old Hortencia Rodriguez just before 8 a.m. Sunday morning in Soundview. She was on her way to Saint Joan of Arc church on East 174th Street and Stratford Avenue when a man grabbed her from behind.
"Somebody come back, cover over my eyes and take me down," she said. "Took my bag -- everything. Everything in my bag."
She was stripped of her purse, wallet, ID and her offering for Mass.
"About $40 and all the envelopes for the church," she said.
On Tuesday, Dec. 12, police believe the suspect was seen on surveillance video waiting in the hallway of a building on East 172nd and Stratford Avenue when he saw a 72-year-old woman coming home from the doctor walk inside.
Police said he grabbed her purse and took off with her cash.
Neither victim was hurt in the incidents, but Rodriguez says she is shaken.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.