FILLMORE : Woman Injured in Theft of Purse

A 70-year-old Fillmore woman suffered minor injuries Tuesday after struggling with a mugger who yanked her purse from her grip and fled on foot from the Buenaventura Mall parking lot, Ventura police said.

The thief, who shed some of his clothing as he fled, ran up to Margaret A. Meyer as she and her friend, Margaret Meadows, 71, of Fillmore, were getting into Meyer’s car about 2:10 p.m. in the south parking lot of the mall on South Mills Road, Officer Phil Steinberger said.

Meyer, whose purse was draped over her right shoulder, “wasn’t going to let it go, not at all,” Steinberger said.

But the man, whom Steinberger described as poorly groomed, about 6 feet tall and 145 pounds, pulled the purse from Meyer’s hands with such force that its strap broke and she fell to the asphalt beside her 1985 Grand Marquis.

She declined to have police call paramedics, however, and was treated instead by a mall employee for scrapes and bruises on her right knee and both arms, Steinberger said.

Dodging traffic as he fled on Main Street, the man removed his faded green shirt and black baseball cap and bundled them up with the purse, Steinberger said. He ran west on Porter Lane before disappearing through a back yard.

In addition to about $200 in cash, the purse contained a checkbook and credit cards, Steinberger said. He said Meyer had left the mall through the doors near the food court.

The robber was described as a white man in his mid-20s with shoulder-length light brown hair. He was wearing checkered shorts and white tennis shoes, according to witness accounts to police.