A 50-year-old man has earned 24 years in prison for a string of creative purse thefts in D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood.
On seven occasions between September 25, 2011 and January 23, 2012, Winston Jackson methodically scouted unsuspecting women in restaurants, bars, and cafes in the Gallery Place vicinity.
The U.S. Attorney General’s office says Jackson would enter an establishment, claim he was meeting family or friends, target his victim and situate himself in proximity to her table. Using a jacket or a bag, he’d successfully leave the restaurant without being pursued and victims would be left without a wallet or purse.
Jackson would then purchase multiple $20 paper fare cards from the Gallery Place-Chinatown station and batches of $10 movie tickets from Regal Cinemas. The Attorney General’s office believes the purchases—amounting to thousands of dollars—were for resale.
Jackson was found guilty by a jury on 23 counts of robbery, theft, and credit card fraud in D.C. Superior Court in May.
