Victim of purse snatching shaken up, but not stirred

LYNN – Police say a drunken homeless man snatched a 90-year-old woman’s purse at Greater Lynn Senior Services (GLSS) Friday afternoon as she sat down for lunch and to play a game of Bingo with her friends.The victim, Rose Jarmilwicz of Lynn, said the suspect, Russell Kerivan, a 62-year-old homeless man, sat down next to her and a group of her friends after he had lunch at the center. After a few minutes of odd small talk, Jarmilwicz said Kerivan asked her and her friends to watch over his bottle of vodka, saying he would “be right back.” It was then that Jarmilwicz and her friend noticed that he had allegedly swapped his bottle for her purse and left in a hurry.”He was drunk,” Jarmilwicz said. “My friend told the director (of GLSS) that he took my bag and that he went into the men’s room. He must have thought he was safe in there, but the people at the center went after him.”According to court documents, Kerivan struggled with a GLSS staff member and pushed her out of the way after he came out of the bathroom, allegedly holding Jarmilwicz’s purse. An officer who happened to be working detail in the area, was flagged down as Kerivan took off running down Union Street. The officer caught up with Kerivan and, during a pat frisk, found a pack of cigarettes and $52 in his pants pocket.He was arrested and charged with unarmed robbery of a person over 65 and assault and battery. On Monday, he was arraigned at Lynn District Court by Judge Albert Conlon, where he was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for July 19.Jarmilwicz said, at the time of the robbery, her purse had been resting on her walker chair instead of over her arm, as she usually carries it. She said she had just gone to the bank and had $300 in her purse, along with a few loose bills totaling $52.”I didn’t think anything of it, but should have known better,” she said. “But we still got our Bingo game in (on Friday) and everything went along smoothly.”Despite having been shaken up by the incident, Jarmilwicz said it didn’t stop her from returning to GLSS on Monday for another game of Bingo with her pals.”I’ve been going there twice a week for the past 20 years,” she said. “He was probably just looking for easy money and his arrest probably won’t stop him from doing it again.”