Woman, Teen Arrested for Union City Purse Snatchings

UNION CITY, CA - A 24-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy have been arrested in connection with a string of 10 purse snatches in Union City over the past two months, police said Monday.

In most of the cases, the suspects stole a victim’s purse by either taking it from a shopping cart or by pulling it away from the victim, according to police.

Authorities who were investigating a string of 11 purse snatches identified and arrested Alexis Bostick, 24, and the 16-year-old juvenile after a victim provided police with the license plate number for their vehicle, a dark blue four-door BMW, police said.

Bostick and the juvenile are believed to have been involved in at least 10 of the purse snatches, according to police.

In most cases the victims were unharmed but in once case a female victim was dragged a short distance and suffered moderate injuries, police said.

Bostick has been charged with four counts of robbery, one count of felony battery, seven counts of grand theft, three counts of fraudulently using a debit card, two counts of possession of stolen property and one count of battery with injury, according to police.

According to jail records, Bostick works as a security guard and is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $317,500 bail.

The juvenile is expected to face similar charges, police said.

Union City police said detectives are still investigating the purse-snatching incidents and it’s possible that there were additional robberies so they’re asking people with information about robberies to call Detective Daniel Dejong at (510) 675-5227.

Police advised shoppers to pay attention to their surroundings, secure their valuables inside their vehicles before unloading or loading goods and not to leave their purses in their shopping carts.

--Bay City News; Image by Renee Schiavone, Patch