Crimeline Seeks Assistance with Purse Snatching Cases

CONCORD, NH - The Concord Regional Crimeline has issued an alert asking for help with two purse snatching cases from last night and the afternoon before that may be related, according to police.

At around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2015, Concord Police were called to the Walmart on Loudon Road for a robbery.

Upon arrival officers made contact with the victim, identified as a woman in her late 50s, according to Lt. Timothy O’Malley, the commander of the criminal investigations unit. The victim said that she had just finished shopping at Walmart and exited the store through the general merchandise exit where she met her teenage grandson. Together, they proceeded to walk to her car that was parked in Aisle #3.

“The victim said that as she placed her Christmas gifts into the rear of her car a white male subject ran by her and grabbed her purse,” according to O’Malley. “The victim said she had had the strap of the purse around her forearm, forcing the suspect to pull the purse off of her arm. She said that the suspect ran away from her towards the Major Brands Appliance Store.”

She said she could see the suspect run towards a vehicle that appeared to be waiting for him in the Major Brands parking lot. She could only describe the subject as a male wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The teen said the man was white, in his 20s or 30s, about 6-feet tall, 160 to 180 lbs., with a skinny build.

“His clothes were hanging off of him,” O’Malley noted.

He said the suspect had a scruffy beard, possibly light brown or light orange in color and he was wearing a navy blue colored hooded sweatshirt (with the hood up over his head) and real saggy blue jeans. He described the bottoms of the suspect’s jeans as being down below the bottom of his shoes. Finally he stated that the subject was wearing white, Nike brand, shoes.

The purse was later recovered approximately 1.5 miles away, near Rymes Propane on Route 4, according to the alert.

“It appears as if the suspect only removed a small quantity of cash, leaving behind credit cards and gift cards,” O’Malley said.

In the second case, at around 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2015, police were sent to the Shaw’s Supermarket on D’Amante Drive for a report of a purse theft.

The victim, identified as a woman in her late 50s, reported that she left Shaw’s Supermarket and was loading groceries into the back of her vehicle. The victim said she turned for a moment to answer her phone and when she looked back at her shopping cart, her purse was gone.

The purse is described as being medium sized black leather purse with a worn leather strap and broken zipper. No suspect information is available at this time.

The Concord Police do not know if these incidents are related however are looking into that possibility.

A surveillance shot was taken from the Walmart incident on Dec. 10.

Anyone who has information relative to any criminal incident is asked to call the Concord Regional Crimeline at 603-226-3100, or submit information online to the website at: concordregionalcrimeline.com, or Txt TIP234 and their message to CRIMES (274637). Crimeline awards cash to anyone whose information leads to the arrest and indictment of criminals. All tips remain anonymous.