Police from the 106th Precinct in South Ozone Park are looking for a purse snatcher who targeted a 53-year-old woman who had just finished shopping at a C-Town Supermarket at 134-16 Liberty Ave. in South Richmond Hill during the afternoon of Saturday, March 15.
The victim was loading groceries into her vehicle in the parking lot when the perpetrator approached her from behind and allegedly grabbed her handbag, which contained cash and credit cards, before running off down Liberty Avenue. The victim was not injured during the encounter, an NYPD spokesman said Thursday. He could not say how much cash was in the victim’s bag.
The same suspect struck again two days later, just before 8:30 a.m. on Monday, March 17. A 57-year-old woman was in front of Cottage Home Care Services at 126-01 Liberty Avenue in South Richmond Hill when the stranger snatched her purse containing credit cards and ran off down Liberty Avenue, police said. The woman refused medical attention at the crime scene and discovered later that an unauthorized transaction was made using one of her stolen credit cards.
The same day, the purse snatcher struck again just east of the Van Wyck Expressway in the confines of the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica. In that incident, a 71-year-old woman was in front of a home at 102-15 Remington St. just before 2 p.m. when the man approached and shoved her to the sidewalk. He forcibly removed her purse, which contained credit cards, a cell phone, and an undetermined amount of cash. The victim refused medical attention at the scene.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect inside a convenience store wearing black face covering, a black hooded jacket over a black baseball cap and black pants.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest.
Anyone with information regarding these robberies is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
Through March 16, the 106th Precinct has reported 36 robberies so far in 2025, ten fewer than the 46 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 21.7%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Robberies are also down in the 103rd Precinct.
Through March 16, the 103rd Precinct precinct reported 55 robberies so far this year, ten fewer than the 65 reported at the same point in 2024, a decrease of 15.4%, according to CompStat. Felony assaults are on the rise in the precinct with 145 reported so far in 2025, 25 more than the 120 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 20.8%, according to CompStat.
