A 19-year-old South Philadelphia man who returned to the scene of the crime while the victim was talking to police was convicted by a jury yesterday of stealing the pocketbook of a 40-year-old woman last March 10.
Assistant District Attorney Ramy Djerassi said a few minutes after Mildred Wise was robbed at 22nd and Reed streets, Andre Richardson, of 17th Street near Reed, casually walked by while Wise and John Bingham, who had chased Richardson, were reporting the offense to police.
"That's the robber!" Wise and Bingham both shouted. Police quickly arrested Richardson and another man walking with him.
Wise said Richardson grabbed her purse as she was waiting for a bus to go home to North Philadelphia. Bingham, who saw the theft, chased Richardson to a nearby yard, where the defendant threatened him with a stick and then ran off.
Djerassi said Richardson threw the pocketbook to the ground after removing about $65.
"Richardson thought he could get away with this by walking by the scene and walking away from what he did," said Djerassi.
"I didn't do it," testified Richardson, who begged Common Pleas Judge Theodore A. McKee not to send him to prison.
McKee sentenced Richardson to prison until March 12 on a contempt of court charge, saying that he had ignored a warning not to mention that his co- defendant had been acquitted.
He said he would sentence Richardson next month on charges of robbery and conspiracy. Djerassi said Richardson faces a possible terms of 8 to 14 years.
