Purse snatchers charged

Published 9:52 am Friday, December 4, 2009

Two West Virginia men will face charges in Lawrence County in connection with an alleged purse-snatching incident in the Walmart SuperCenter parking lot Nov. 25.

Lawrence County Sheriff’s Detective Andy Sisler said Paul M. Moore Jr., 41, of Huntington, is charged with aggravated robbery and John W. Adkins Jr., 31, also of Huntington, is charged with complicity to aggravated robbery.

Both are in the Western Regional Jail in Barboursville, W.Va., and are among a group of people who face multiple similar charges in the Mountain State.

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Sisler said authorities in Huntington have recently investigated several complaints from women who said their purses were snatched by men driving past them in a car as they were entering or leaving department stores.

On Nov. 25, a woman told sheriff’s deputies here that as she was leaving the Burlington Walmart, a car pulled beside her and a man in the passenger side of the vehicle attempted to take her purse from her shoulder as the car drove past her. The woman’s arm was broken in the attack.

Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless advised people to be alert during the Christmas shopping season and use caution when entering and leaving stores.