Two Lake Forest brothers are in jail awaiting charges after stealing a woman’s purse Thursday while she shopped at the Pavilions on Oso and Marguerite Parkway.
Chad Anctil, 26, and his brother, Chris, 22, were booked into the Orange County Jail for robbery and receiving stolen property after one brother grabbed the woman’s purse from a shopping cart and fled into a car driven by his brother.
The woman chased the brother to the car but was unable to stop him before they sped away. A witness, who saw the robbery go down, wrote down the license plate number and deputies traced the car to a Lake Forest residence. The men were arrested two hours later when they returned home with the purse and stuff they bought with the victim’s credit card.
A similar incident happened in Laguna Woods earlier in the day when a purse was stolen from a woman loading groceries into her car in front of Stater Brothers. In that case, witnesses got the woman’s purse back from the suspect who later fled in a 2007 Subaru WRX.
The incidents serve as reminder to the public to beware.
“Women should be aware of the location of their purse whenever shopping,” said Lt. Mike Gavin, Chief of Police Services. “This type of theft is common in many malls and shopping centers in Southern California.”
