Suspect in Violent Mugging of Elderly Woman Gets Busted by His Own Mother
A man from St. Paul, Minnesota, was charged with attempted robbery of an elderly woman this week after his mother identified him on a surveillance video.
According to KMSP-TV, 18-year-old Isaiah Jamal Foster allegedly attempted to rip a purse from a woman’s grasp as she entered a Walgreens in St. Paul.
The victim, 81-year-old Judith Stuthman, suffered a concussion and brain bleed as a result of the crime.
“The actions of this young person caused significant trauma and injury to an elderly resident and spread fear throughout our community,” Ramsey County attorney John Choi said in a statement according to KMSP.
“I want to thank investigators for their work on this case and the mother of the young offender for doing the right thing by turning her son into authorities.”
A complaint describing the crime said that a member of Foster’s family showed the video to his mother, KMSP reported.
“I’m 100 percent sure that is him,” she reportedly said after viewing the video. She added that she decided to turn him in after “praying on it.”
Isaiah Jamal Foster has a lengthy criminal record – robbery, assault, car theft – just to highlight a few. I’ll share more in this thread. Foster is currently on probation – until December 31, 2023. Until recently, he was held at West Central Regional Juvenile Center in Moorhead. pic.twitter.com/6VusGC6e3D
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) December 30, 2021
Foster’s mother said she recognized his coat in the video. According to KMSP, it was the same coat he was wearing during a separate Tuesday carjacking incident for which he was already in custody at the time of this new charge.
Stuthman said her purse was wrapped around her wrist when Foster allegedly attempted to rip it away from her.
“What went through my mind was ‘he’s not getting my purse,'” she told KMSP.
“And I didn’t realize until I saw the video that I had grasped onto the sliding door at Walgreen. Apparently, I knocked it off its track which is a surprise. I just know I was unconscious.”
Stuthman said she believed Foster’s mother did the right thing by turning him in even though it “had to be a terrible trauma to her also.”
Police said two other alleged purse snatchings occurred this month in Roseville, Minnesota, and St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Detectives are investigating possible connections between the three crimes.
Violent crime is at a record high in St. Paul this year. In December, the city reached an all-time record for annual homicides, Axios reported.
Meanwhile, KSTP-TV reported Minneapolis was just five homicides away from tying its deadliest all-time year as of Dec. 16.
After the death of George Floyd in 2020, public outcry led Minneapolis to cut funding for it’s police department, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
However, Mayor Jacob Frey and the city council agreed to a budget allocating about $191 million to the police department for 2022, which the Tribune said was “nearly the level” of funding the department received prior to Floyd’s death.
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