ALLIANCE - A 21-year-old city man was charged with aggravated robbery after allegedly stealing an elderly woman's purse Thursday morning.
According to Alliance police, Mark A. Patrick, 21, of Waugh Street, confessed to snatching a purse from a woman at about 7:30 a.m.
Police said the woman, who turns 84 today, was taking her morning walk on Mahoning Avenue when a man shoved her face down on the sidewalk, grabbed her purse and ran,
The woman was taken to Alliance Community Hospital with injuries including multiple broken bones, contusions and bruising. She told officers her main concern was that her rosary was taken.
During a canvas of the area, Detective John Jenkins and officer Seth Busche discovered that a nearby business had just had contact with a man matching Patrick's description, photocopied his driver's license and videotaped him moments before the robbery.
Officer Shannon McCalla located the suspect just before 1 p.m. in the area of South Arch and East Cambridge. Patrick was taken into custody without incident on a warrant for breaking and entering from a separate incident.
During questioning, Patrick first denied knowledge of the robbery, police said, but later confessed and led officers to a wooded area where the purse and contents were recovered.
The cash from the purse was in Patrick's possession, police said.
Patrick is being held in the Stark County jail on $50,000 bond and will be arraigned on the first-degree felony charge today in Alliance Municipal Court.
Officers visited the woman at the hospital and returned her rosary.
