Police: purse thief getting more violent

TAMPA - Police say women who frequently shop near 50th and Busch Boulevard are being targeted by what they call a "serial purse snatcher."

Four women have been robbed, the last one on Wednesday afternoon. What worries police is that each robbery has become increasingly violent..

Nancy Husten is the most recent known victim. She was leaving the Big Lots near her Tampa apartment when she was robbed.

"He came up, on his bicycle and just ripped my purse off my arm," she described.

Police said the robber was not an average purse snatcher.

"I'd say he's a predator, he's hit four times," said Tampa Police Detective Gary Balkcom.

Police say in each of the four robberies the suspect became more violent. Husten said she tried holding on to her purse.

"If I was strong enough, I would have pushed him off the bike. The police detective said, 'it was probably a good thing that you didn't because he could have had a knife or a gun,'" Husten explained.

Police say she is lucky to have come through the ordeal with just a bruised left arm.

In one instance, a woman was dragged 200 feet across the parking lot as she struggled for her purse.

As for Husten, she lost her purse and the cash inside it. She did get some of her credit cards returned.

She said she is "...very lucky...I didn't get killed. I could have been, I guess, easily."