Purse Stolen During Good Friday Service In Cleveland Heights

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — Police are looking for a man that stole a churchgoer's purse during a Good Friday service at St. Paul's Episcopal on Fairmount Boulevard. The purse was in a pew, next to its owner, when it was snatched.

The theft occurred at about 12:30 p.m. on March 30. The victim, a 63-year-old woman, told police that she was attending service when a man she did not know stood next to her. He asked her the words to a hymn being sung. He then abruptly left.

When the woman looked down she saw her purse was missing. The 63-year-old saw the man walk out of the church and head east, toward Coventry Road. Police searched that area, but could not find the suspect.

Inside the woman's purse were credit cards, a AAA card, medical cards and some debit and store cards. The purse also held the woman's cell phone, house keys, some prescription pain pills, and the woman's driver's license. All of the cards have been cancelled, police said.

Police said they tried to track the missing iPhone, but did not find the suspect. None of the woman's cards were used immediately after the church service, either.

Police told the woman to change the locks at her house and go to the BMV for a new license. They also asked her to look for serial numbers for some of her missing items, so they could be added to a police database.

Police said the suspect that sat next to the woman in church was a black man, about 38 to 40 years of age, who stood about six feet one inches tall.

According to the police report obtained by Patch, there was a second suspicious person inside St. Paul's on Good Friday. Police said a heavyset white woman, standing about five feet four inches tall came into the church vestibule and asked if her boyfriend, a tall, black man, was inside. A parishioner helped the woman spot her boyfriend, but instead of going up to him, the woman went to the bathroom and then exited the church.

A Nextdoor post suggested there were approximately 150 people inside St. Paul's for the noon Good Friday service.

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