Man steals 80-year-old woman’s purse outside Publix

Author: Alec Schreck
Published:

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- A thief snatched an 80-year-old woman’s purse at a local grocery store Thursday afternoon.

Police say the man grabbed the woman’s purse as she was loading groceries into her car outside the Publix located near McGregor Boulevard and Gladiolus Drive.

Her husband tells WINK News a dark skinned man with an arm full of tattoos took the purse.

Jack Sloss says he withdrew $300 from a bank machine, handed it to his wife Claire, then she drove off to run errands.

“She went to Kmart to get some medication and decided to come over here to get some groceries. We always go to Publix and it’s always been a very, very safe place,” said Sloss.

Detectives interviewed the elderly victim and her husband. He wasn’t at the store when his wife was attacked, but he rushed there shortly after it happened.

“Thank goodness she’s okay physically.”

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office sent up a helicopter to search for the suspect, but so far there are no arrests.

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