Crime & Courts

Purse snatcher seriously injures 71-year-old outside Fairbanks bingo hall, police say

A man being held on robbery and assault charges in Fairbanks broke a woman's pelvis when he snatched her purse and knocked her down outside a bingo hall, police say.

The 71-year-old woman had more than $1,500 cash in her purse, police spokeswoman Yumi McCulloch said, including $1,000 she won at Chena Bingo on Clay Street. She was walking to her car early May 15 when a suspect – later identified as 34-year-old Stewart C. Erhart, based on surveillance video – "rode up behind her on a bicycle and snatched her purse."

"She maintained a grip on the purse while the suspect pulled her off her feet," McCulloch wrote in a statement. "During the struggle (Erhart) fell off the bike. He continued to pull violently on the purse and dragged her across the asphalt before he ripped it from her hand and fled. As she lay on the pavement, she was able to call 911."

Police were dispatched to the scene at about 1 a.m. Medics took the woman, who also suffered scrapes on her head, to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and has since been released, McCulloch said.

A chance break in the case came at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, when Erhart was taken into custody at a Holiday gas station on Third Avenue after a sighting by police.

"The detective that was working that case was off duty, was at Holiday and saw him driving around, just on his own time, and saw him go in there," McCulloch said. "He called the department to have them come over there and arrest him."

Erhart was held at the Fairbanks Correctional Center on charges of first-degree robbery as well as second-degree assault and theft.

Police are still investigating the incident and ask anyone with information to contact Detective Anthony Laska at 907-450-6451 or alaska@fairbanks.us.

Chris Klint

Chris Klint is a former ADN reporter who covered breaking news.

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