Suspect arrested in theft of elderly woman’s purse from grocery cart

A felon snatched an 85-year-old woman’s purse Tuesday evening in the Browne’s Addition Rosauers parking lot, police say.

Steven C. Puckett, 53, was detained by store security a little after 6 p.m. after surveillance cameras showed the man taking the victim’s cart with her purse inside, according to a Spokane Police Department statement.

The woman had forgotten her purse in the cart after shopping. By the time the woman returned to her car and noticed her mistake, the purse was gone.

The victim went into the store to talk with an employee, who offered to drive her home to get her second set of car keys. Another employee reviewed surveillance camera footage and spotted a man who appeared to be Puckett taking the victim’s cart back into the store, SPD said.

The video then showed the man walking to the back of the store and emptying the contents of the purse into his pockets before hiding the bag in the store bathroom, according to police.

Store security attempted to stop Puckett from leaving the store, but police said he was confrontational and refused to stop. When officers arrived, they arrested Puckett and returned the victim’s credit cards, cash and other items.

“Our guys stopped him and there was no physical altercation. He waited for police and they waited with him,” said Scott Stephens, director of security at Rosauers.

Puckett was booked into the Spokane County Jail on 11 counts of second-degree theft and one count of third-degree theft. Puckett’s prior charges include an ongoing theft case and convictions for possession of stolen property, felony possession of a controlled substance and burglary.