Lombard man gets 10 years for purse snatchings

A Lombard man was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for snatching purses from two elderly women in acts he said were motivated by his desire to buy his wife a Valentine's Day present.

Donald Brown, 30, of 890 Foxworth Blvd., received the punishment on aggravated robbery charges.

Police arrested Brown shortly after a 78-year-old woman complained Feb. 14 that a man knocked her to the ground outside her Glen Ellyn home and made off with her purse after following her from a nearby grocery store.

Brown later was charged in an earlier incident in which an 82-year-old woman reported a similar crime Feb. 9.

Both women suffered minor injuries.

Brown pleaded guilty to both crimes May 5. DuPage Circuit Judge Perry Thompson sentenced him Thursday.

"Mr. Brown chose his victims carefully," DuPage State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said in a statement. "He waited for elderly, defenseless women to leave the grocery store. He followed them home and when the opportunity presented itself, he stole from them.

"I believe that Judge Thompson's sentence demonstrates that this type of attack on our elderly population will not be tolerated and will carry significant consequences."