Published: April 30, 2008 10:10 pm         

Police nab alleged purse snatcher

For three straight days, police say, a Raleigh County woman snatched five purses from distracted victims’ shopping carts. Now, they say, she’s been arrested.

Sheriff’s deputies charged Crystal Wall, 35, of Beaver, with three counts of petit larceny, Detective Sgt. Jim Bare said. Beckley police Detective Sgt. David Allard said Wall is also charged with two counts of petit larceny in the city. Bare arrested Wall at her residence Wednesday, and Allard later served city arrest warrants.

Wall was being held at Southern Regional Jail on $20,000 bond.

Bare said Wall went to the same undisclosed store in Beaver April 23-25 and stole a purse from a victim’s shopping cart each day. The victims, who were of various ages, were distracted when Wall took their purses, Bare added.

They did not know their purses had been stolen until they discovered them gone.

After each theft, Bare said, Wall took only cash, then ditched the purses, leaving credit cards, checks and other items inside. Bare estimated the most Wall ever found inside a stolen purse was no more than $80. The purses had as little as $30.

Wall also took purses from two victims at the Beckley Wal-Mart April 23 and 24, Allard said. Only cash was taken from those purses as well. Allard estimated $100 total was found inside the two purses.

There may be more victims in Beckley who have not yet come forward, Allard said.

Allard and Bare said Wall confessed to all five incidents, telling police she did it because she needed cash.

“After she stole the first purse, she was coming to both of the stores solely to steal,” Allard said. “That’s the reason she kept coming back to both places.

“This was strictly a crime of opportunity.”

Allard said the purses taken at Wal-Mart had been recovered, one at Scrubbies Car Wash on Eisenhower Drive and the other at the county’s landfill. Bare said one victim’s purse from the Beaver thefts was found on Scott Ridge Road, but the others were still missing.

Police are warning those carrying purses to keep them close, never leaving them unattended. If purses must be placed in a shopping cart, Allard suggested taking belts used to secure children and looping them through purse straps. That will at least make it harder for someone to quickly grab a purse and run. Often, thieves will move to another target if they spot the slightest obstacle.

Allard also advised not carrying a large amount of cash or credit cards or carrying Social Security cards in one’s purse. Items that are kept inside a purse should be inventoried, complete with account numbers. That will allow a theft victim to quickly call credit card companies, canceling accounts before they are compromised.

Store surveillance systems were one tool investigators used in the case, Allard said. Allard largely credited Bare with Wall’s arrest, and said citizens benefit because of a close working relationship between city police and sheriff’s deputies. Open cases have been cleared frequently because the two departments share information.