Homeless Man Charged In Strong-Arm Fort Lee Purse Robbery

FORT LEE, NJ — A Bergen County homeless man was charged with robbery after he stole a purse from a woman at the Acme supermarket Sunday morning, police said.

Gregory Prior, 52, a homeless man from Hackensack, was also charged with receiving stolen property.

Police received a report from the woman at 10:44 a.m. at the supermarket who said she was robbed, police said.

The woman told responding officers that while she was in the parking lot with a shopping cart full of groceries a man walked up from behind and pulled her purse from the shopping cart, police said.

The woman and Prior struggled over the purse and he fled the scene in a car, police said. She gave police a description of the vehicle and the man.

New Jersey State Police found the vehicle just after 11 a.m. at the Vince Lombardi Service Area on the eastbound New Jersey Turnpike in Ridgefield, police said. It had been reported stolen out of Jersey City earlier that morning.

Authorities investigated and arrested Prior. He was taken to the Bergen County Jail police said.

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