First the purse thief lost the purse back to the owner, then the thief lost the foot race with the sheriff's deputy, police said.
The worst was yet to come.
St. Clair County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Davis was on duty last Friday at the Emerson Park Metro Station, 929 N. 15th St. in East St. Louis, when a woman got off the MetroLink train about 7:20 a.m. and said another passenger had just tried to take her purse while she was reading a book.
The woman's purse was on her lap when the purse snatcher walked by and grabbed it, said St. Clair County Sheriff's Chief Investigator Capt. Steve Johnson. The victim jumped up, followed the purse snatcher as the train pulled into the Emerson Park Metro Station and grabbed her purse back.
When she saw Davis, she described the purse snatcher and told Davis the woman was running north toward the Central City Apartments.
Davis spotted a woman matching the victim's description and ran after her. He caught up to her and ordered her to lie on the ground.
The suspect identified herself as Sherry Harris, 20, of 1713 McCasland Ave. in East St. Louis. A background check discovered that under that name the woman had an active St. Clair County warrant for a Metro fare violation. Harris was arrested and taken back to the St. Clair County Jail where the case was taken over by St. Clair County Sheriff's Investigator Desmond Williams.
When Harris' fingerprints were run through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System by Williams, he learned the woman's real name was Sherry Lawson, 20, of the same address she previously gave Davis.
Lawson had a felony parole violation warrant on file from the Illinois Department of Corrections in addition to the St. Clair County warrant under the false name. She was convicted of burglary in 2006 in Macon County and was released from prison and placed on parole on April 28.
On Monday, Lawson was charged with criminal felony of theft from a person and criminal felony obstructing justice for giving a false name to avoid arrest.
She was being held in the St. Clair County Jail in lieu of a $40,000 bail.
Contact reporter Jennifer A. Bowen at jbowen@bnd.com or 239-2667.
