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NEW YORK -- A 77-year-old Queens woman and Holocaust survivor is taking matters into her own hands after a thief snatched her purse from a shopping cart while at a market in a Queens neighborhood.
Bertha Presz, known as "Bobbi" to her family and friends, said she was looking at egg cartons when a man walked by her cart and took her handbag containing cash, credit cards, a cellphone and a driver's license. The thief stuffed it under his shirt and strolled out of the store, Brach's Glatt Kosher Meat Market. The thief didn't realize he had been caught on surveillance tape when he walked out of the store in Kew Gardens Hills.
When Presz realized her purse was missing, "I yelled out, 'Somebody stole my bag!' And everybody started running around," she said.
The stunned woman first rushed to the store office, then filed a police report. But detectives at the 107th Precinct in Flushing quickly moved on to other cases, even after Presz's daughter managed to trace the cellphone.
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"Unfortunately, if there's a shooting, it's very serious. But this also is serious," said Presz, who grew up in Belgium and escaped the Nazis as a child.
When the grocery store sent Presz black-and-white copies of photos copied from the surveillance tape, the feisty grandmother of five pounded the pavement and went to area businesses, asking if anyone recognized the thief.
"It's very typical of my mother to do something like that," said daughter Hindy Laster, laughing. "It was very hot that day, and I begged my mother not to do it."
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Presz's efforts drew the attention of a community activist, who began pressing for a renewed investigation. Police then began distributing fliers of the suspect -- a tribute to Presz's persistence.
"Maybe I'm a little stubborn," she conceded. For her part, Presz vows never to leave her handbag on the seat of her shopping cart again.
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You go girl!
The guy looks like a freaking douche. I bet he can't fight or defend himself even against the lady. Find him and kick his butt lady!!!
Hope they catch this guy and beat him senseless for resisting arrest.
If this was my grandmother, I would find the douche and take him hunting. Only he wouldn't be allow to wear orange.
After reading this teaser on the front page of NBCNews.com, I was looking forward to a story about a little old lady pulling out her revolver and plugging a bad guy. What a disappointment!
C NJ Mom, I was thinking the same thing. But then all the bleeding hearts would be decrying her shooting him over a purse and calling for her head on a plate and sympathizing with the perp as always.
dave: as a bleeding heart, I say, no we wouldn't!!
God bless the little old lady, and help justice prevail.
You go girl......hope they catch the low life.
dude, just give her back her stuff...
The thief will commit further crimes, and will be caught. If the police followed up more on the small crimes, they could prevent some of the bigger ones, like shootings.
Am I the only one that is fed up with these scumbags thinking they have the right to take anything they want because mama didnt hug them enough as a kid? Maybe the muslims have it right. Cut off one of his hand first offense. That will make the other wanna be thiefs think a little harder before commiting these crimes.
I think you mean a digit of one finger.
Too bad she couldn't fire a warning shot through his chest, or shoot him in the rotunda on his way out.
I can think of a "digit" that should be cut off so this POS doesn't raise any kids of his own.
No, he means a hand! That's Sharia law for you.
If an elderly lady can do this to protect her self and property, why in the heck can't the younger take a stand?
Maybe it is because she actually had experienced a life that she only had herself to survive. Our younger people only seem to get motivated only if the tax payers want to take away their subsidies for their children's survival, their education, their housing, their food, their medical, their right to be non productive. If one doesn't actually work for what they acquire, it certianly doesn't mean much to them.
Time for the police to pay attention to the people who pay their salaries. NBC should have a head shot blown up and an artist's sketch on the site to help capture this scumbag. Again terrible reporting by this media. Which intern can we blame for this?
well people do not want to pay more taxes and unfortunately you get what you pay for.....if there is no budget for police then they can't take care of things.
This all goes back to the lack of teaching morals in school, along with other basic things. This person (Thief) would probably get off with no time if he is caught, because he would claim it was the fault of everyone else for his becoming a thief. Does this sound familiar? We have a current President that does this all the time and the liberals are going to see that he is re-elected.
What in the hell are you babbling about?
Thieves have been around about as long as man has. Why do you nimrods have to bring politics into every discussion on Newvine?
Thought, Adam stole the apple from Eve. No?
And it was ________— fault. Fill in the blank:
And her cherry.
James...we teach morals in American schools...survival of the fittest, state of nature, call of the wild, the human animal; we've taught this to our kids since almost the founding...no wonder we are an animalistic country...we've been that way for a very long time.
Julie ... nice shot! :c)
As usual there is no email address published or available on the net to notify this journalist about her terrible reporting. If she, or any reporter (HA) were interested in what they were doing, they would do the right thing and get a good picture, a head shot and an artists sketch of the felon and publish it with the article. The person affected is working on the problem, the police are writing it off and the reporter just found an article to fill her quota for the day and drops the article.
If the author was interested in what she was doing you wouldn't see three or more typos in this short piece.
I agree- that is the worst article I've seen.
It may be a poorly written article, but when you ask for things that don't likely exist, you seem kind of silly:
1. "good picture, head shot" See that still from the security cam? That grainy, not so clear shot? I'm willing to bet that's the best they have. Seriously, do you think he posed for a close up?
2. Artist's sketch? Of what, exactly? The blurry profile in the picture?
This isn't TV. You can't just "enhance" a fuzzy surveillance tape and make his face clear. That's fiction.
This is the best they have. And it's enough that if somebody knows the guy, they can probably recognize him. A fuzzy figure is nonetheless distinctive to somebody familiar with him -- by his mannerisms, profile, clothing, hair, etc.
And the lady can't describe him in detail because she didn't see him. She just turned around and saw her bag missing.
The thing I caught was this lady is not exactly a Holocaust survivor, by that I mean she didn't go to one of the concentration camps. They say her family escaped the Nazis, so I guess technically it is correct, but I was expecting the story to mention how she survived the concentration camp, or was in hiding for years, the rest of her family perished...etc.
I hope this lady catches him first before the police, he's going to find out what Old age and can do. She has already been through HELL son and she is hunting you down, so if your reading this run, run far or bring her stuff back and hope she is in a forgiving mood!
Well, she apparently had an exciting life but from the story I wouldn't say she had gone through hell. It does not appear that she was captured and spent time in a concentration camp. They just escaped and moved.
When my purse was swiped from under my desk in a State office building across the street from the Police station, they didn't have time for me either.
About 20 years ago a man approached my mom in a mall parking lot and tried to grab her purse off of her shoulder. At the time my mom was 72. She is 5'1" and weighs 110 lbs. Tiny little thing. My mom is also black belt (it's her hobby and exercise of choice). She literally beat the crap out of the guy and held him for police. She had to yell for help because this was before cell phones.
Police came and took the man into custody. Mom pressed charges and the man had a long, long criminal history. Ironically, the man tried to sue for damages saying he was just trying to help her to her car. Yeah, right. He lost.
Some day these low life thieves are going to learn not to mess with old ladies. She's over 90 now and still works out 3x a week. She swims, walks and yes, judo. She lives alone and volunteers at church and the local library.
LOVE your mom's story. Woe to the man who tries to separate a woman from her purse!
Excellent story! Some years ago, long before I met my wife, some pathetic, cowardly slime tried to mug her ... he ended up being arrested shortly thereafter ... in the emergency room ... with a mouthful of mace ... when this happens to a criminal most of the time ... crime miraculously drops ... go figure ...
So frustrating - I was purse snatched in Chicago last fall and I chased the MF'er myself, causing him to thankfully drop my wallet. I screamed for help and everyone just watched. He got away with my iPhone. Someone who saw it happen called the police for me, told them he knew the guy who robbed me - that he was his neighbor. Gave them the man's name and address, as well as his own and said he was willing to identify the guy in a lineup. The police never did anything about it. I called a few days later and they said they knocked on the dude's door, but no one answered, so there was nothing they could do about it. The brother of this guy snatched a woman's iphone from her on the subway and pushed another woman down the stairs in the process of getting away, killing her. I realize they have murders and drug rings and all of that crap to deal with, but the small stuff needs dealt with, too, otherwise these dirt bags will go on to commit their crimes over and over again, with no regard for who they push down the stairs in the process. The woman who died worked serving the poor, a real loss to the community. Sad.
Go, Granny!!!
Hope you find this defective waste of flesh and give him a little piece of your mind. I would not think you'd have trouble arranging that "ttalk."
I wear a cross-body shoulder bag all the time for just this reason. My hands are always free, I never set the bag down and forget it, and nobody can pick it up and run off with it when my head is turned.
Never mess with grandma! Every kid knows that.
I am familiar with cops not wanting to follow through on simple crimes. We had a checkbook stolen once, and the thief was running around all over town writing bad checks. We reported it in time, and all of the checks had been cancelled before the first one hit the bank, so we didn't have to deal with actual money being stolen. But at one store they actually asked to see her ID and wrote down her driver's license number on the check. (The cashier apparently let her pay with the check even though the name and address on it didn't match her ID.) You'd think the police could use the driver's license number to track her down. But they didn't bother.
Same lack of action will happen in most places with stolen credit cards. The real reason (besides lazy and/or overworked police): the credit card companies and banks really don't want it pursued because they don't want the public to know the volume of theft. Why? Because they'd rather have credit be very, very easy for everyone to use, especially those who run up huge debt and pay down the interest only. These people live way beyond their means, almost never pay down the capital and the credit card companies and banks make out like loan sharks collecting interest from these deadbeats forever. For every tiny bit you tighten up the credit, those living debt to debt to debt become unable to use it. So even though a credit card company may pay 50 million or more a month in fraudulent claims, it's a small price to pay for the 650 million or more a month they make on interest only payments.
Besides, the police are too busy with serious crimes, such as arresting that teacher for consensual sex with adults but because she was their ex-teacher she gets five years in prison?!? Make sense? You better say yes or you'll be investigated next for one of the new 40,000 crimes written last year...
Oh, BTW, America is completely nuts....
http://www2.alabamas13.com/news/2012/aug/17/ex-teacher-gets-5-year-prison-term-student-sex-ar-4361336/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ id/45819570/ns/ us_news-life/t/new-laws-toughen-rules-abortions-immigrants-voters/
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/May/Nation-of-Criminals-Selling-Prisons-for-Profit/
I'm not one to place much value on revenge nor think it is very healthy but here, HERE is one case where if Bertha were to think of all the horrors she went through and transferred some of that fury onto this creep, justice would be served.
Oh I like this lady! Go Mrs. Presz!
Too bad Zimmerman wasn't standing watch over the store...
Yeah, he would have missed this purse snatcher and randomly shot some kid buying an iced tea. And then everybody would champion him as a hero for at least shooting somebody.
Isn't that Zimmerman grabbing the purse?
Nope. This guy is white. Zimmerman isn't.
Zimmerman would have shot the lady.
I'm coming out for the thief and before you shut me down, here's why...
1st, she survived the holocaust, after that, what's a stolen purse? I would think a very small matter.
2nd, I know it's a hassle and sucks, but cancel the cards, if your cell is stolen and you have insurance, it's replaceable cheap or free and well, that leaves the money...which brings me to point #3.
3rd, if this douche, needed to steal money from a grandmother, he's in desperate shape. He's either a druggie or starving or a loser. She's lived 77 years, probably quality years. This guy's not getting a fraction of that. Offer it up to god, and consider it charity to the really less fortunate and god will bless you and in many ways, considering she survived the holocaust, he already has...
My suggestion. Let it go baby, life's way to short. Want to help society? Go after the EVIL people who steal BILLIONS of dollars and have destroyed our democracy and put as all in bondage...and next time, keep your purse on your arm.
If you "let it go" this will become the way he lives, theft to theft, until he pushes someone down stairs to get away and becomes a killer. He didn't look in desperate shape, it was possibly just a spur of the moment thing; "I need some bucks, she'll never miss it, who cares about her." My take on it anyway.
"If you 'let it go' this will become the way he lives, theft to theft"
You mean like the Billionaires? And Wall Street and the Banks?
Seems like much to do about the "little BS"... meanwhile the BIG crimes, are considered virtues...just my take on it.
These lowlife scumbags are everywhere nowadays, they prey on anyone they can easily get away from and they also know that the cops aren't going to put much time into trying to catch them which isn't right. These lowlifes wouldn't care if they were stealing a persons last dollar either, they have no heart or do they care about anyone but themselves.
Most of these lowlifes are also drug users, alcoholics and just plain thieves, I would venture to guess that many of them have never had any kind of job in there whole life and most likely never will. They start off small time crooks (if you could even call what they are doing small time) and work they way up to bigger scores which is where the cops pay more attention and hopefully catch them in the act but if the cops would only spend the time now to catch these thieves then maybe we would end up with less criminals becoming even better at there trade. Sort of a nip it in the bud type of thing but with budget cuts to police departments all over the country It makes it even harder for the police to do there jobs for us the taxpayers.
If this lady does indeed track this scum down herself I hope she waits for the police and doesn't confront the guy herself as that could get her injured or killed these days.
I wish her luck in her search and I wish the thief the worst luck and hopefully he makes that big mistake next time he steals and gets what is coming to him. Sadly this kind of thing will only be more common in our future as these types of people don't seem to care about anyone but themselves and even then some of them don't even care about what becomes of there own future.
Parents need to teach their child from the time they are very little about right and wrong. We taught our kids that if you lie, steal, or hurt someone there WILL be a price to pay, maybe not right away but someday. When our youngest was 13 he stole $20 from a store. He was caught and the police called. The police were discussing whether to take him to the JDC or home when he asked for protective custody. They brought him home and stood behind him while he told his father and I what he had done. His dad, in a very stern voice, said "Get to your room, NOW!" The punishment? He lost use of all electronics except his light and his alarm clock. He had to come straight hme from school with no after school activities allowed. He had to do chores to pay back the store and attorney fees, and extra chores around home. He had to get good grades and prove it before he got to watch TV, listen to CDs, use a computer, etc. This lasted for months. When he asked why, we said he had proven his judgement couldn't be trusted and now he had to earn back the rights he had thrown away. By the way, he is now a supervisor in the security office of a large corporation.
If you prove there are consequences to criminal behavior the FIRST time it happens and the consequences are bad enough, there won't be a second offense.
First of all, LOVE her! Second of all Pittsburgh..., lighten up. For all you know, she could have been in a concentration camp near the end. Who knows? Quit nit picking
A friend had her purse stolen from a grocery store too. My advise to anyone who puts their purse in the child seat...use the "seat belt" and wrap it around the handles of your purse. If someone tries to grab it, they will get the cart too, making enough noise to make them run for the hills! God luck Grandma! Track the loser down!!
I'm surprised something like that would happen in my old neighborhood, but given the NEVER AGAIN attitude brought to the forefront by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane (OBM) in the 1960s and 1970s, I'm not at all surprised the woman persisted and hunted him down.
Shabbat shalom, shayne bubbele!