Police arrest 16-year-old suspected of purse snatching in Gig Harbor
A 16-year-old suspected of snatching purses in Gig Harbor was arrested Friday, according to a Gig Harbor Police Department Facebook post.
A string of purse-snatching incidents hit Gig Harbor on Dec. 9, 11 and 12, The News Tribune reported. All three happened in grocery store parking lots, and happened to women in their 70s and older.
Police have identified the 16-year-old as a suspect in the incidents on Dec. 9 and 11, according to the post.
On Dec. 9, the suspect allegedly approached a 77-year-old woman walking through the parking lot of a grocery store in the 5000 block of Point Fosdick Dr. and pulled a purse from her shoulder, causing her to fall to the ground and suffer 'significant facial injuries and a broken nose,' the post said.
On Dec. 11, the suspect allegedly jumped out of a vehicle and grabbed a purse from an 80-year-old woman's grocery cart as she was loading items into her vehicle outside a grocery store in the 4800 block of Point Fosdick Dr., according to the post. The suspect allegedly left with the purse after a struggle.
Officers arrested the suspect on suspicion of robbery for both incidents, and on suspicion of financial fraud for using the victim's credit cards after the first incident, the post said.
Police haven't linked the suspect to the Dec. 12 incident, in which someone stole a 73-year-old woman's purse in the parking lot of a grocery store in the 10900 block of Harbor Hill Dr., but are working to do so using forensic evidence, according to the post.
Gig Harbor Police detectives worked with investigators from other agencies including the Bellevue and Renton Police Departments to make the arrest. The suspect was booked into the King County Juvenile Detention Facility on suspicion of other crimes in King County.
Police have also identified a second suspect who was allegedly using one of the victim's credit cards, according to the post.
'We are working to determine the extent of his involvement in these crimes,' the post said.
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