NORTH SIDE Suspect in rash of purse-snatchings to face charges in municipal court

YOUNGSTOWN -- Vernon Lamont Reed, suspected in a rash of purse-snatchings at Forum Health Northside Medical Center, was due in municipal court today.
Reed, 33, who listed addresses on Gypsy Lane and Ivanhoe Avenue, faces charges of carrying a concealed weapon and aggravated robbery. He was captured Monday morning and held overnight in the Mahoning County jail pending arraignment today.
In the past few weeks, at least three women were the victims of purse snatchings outside the hospital, on Gypsy Lane, said Detective Sgt. Rick Alli. He said possibly two of the robberies took place in the hospital parking deck, which is in Liberty.
Alli said Detective Sgts. Jerry Shuster and Brad Blackburn would confer with Liberty police.
On Monday, a 65-year-old Canfield woman who works at the hospital told police that she was walking from the rear parking lot to the rear door of the hospital, near the laundry division, when a man approached and said, "Give me your purse. Give me your purse."
She resisted
The woman said she pulled her purse aside and told the robber, "No, you're not getting my purse," and then threw a cup of hot coffee on him as she ran toward the door. The man chased her, pulled at the purse straps and yanked it away from her arm before running toward the rear of the hospital, reports show.
A witness in the hospital parking lot heard the victim screaming and then saw her chasing a man, yelling that she had been robbed, police said.
When the witness tried to stop the robber, the man pulled a switchblade knife and threatened to stab the witness.
Hospital police chased the man, later identified as Reed, into an apartment building in the 3000 block of Green Acres Drive in Liberty. Reed jumped out a second-floor window and kept running until he was exhausted, police said.
Hospital police caught Reed and found the victim's purse on him. Reports show the purse contained personal papers, $18, hospital identification and a plastic bag with the victim's jewelry.